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Literature - 2 |
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Machado de Assis (1839-1908), widely acclaimed as the greatest Brazilian writer of the 19th century and beyond, was unique because of the universality of his novels and essays. Today, Machado de Assis remains one of the most important and influential writers of fiction in Brazil. His works encompassed both the Romantic style and Realism as exemplified in Europe by Emile Zola and the Portuguese novelist, Eça de Queiroz. The prose of Euclides da Cunha (1866-1908), was committed to a Brazilian literature portraying social realities. His famous work, Os Sertões (Rebellion in the Backlands), about a revolt in the northeast led by a religious fanatic, was published in 1902. At the turn of the century the Brazilian literary imagination was drawn to Symbolism, represented by poets Cruz e Souza (1861-1893) and Alphonsus de Guimarães (1870-1921). The Symbolists were interested in mysticism and used metaphor and allegory to express their ideas.
Beginning in the 20th century, an innovative state of mind imbued Brazilian artists, culminating in the celebration of the Week of Modern Art in São Paulo. This new way of thinking propelled an artistic revolution that appealed to feelings of pride for national folklore, history, and ancestry. Participants in the Week of Modern Art resorted to experiments in writing and in fine arts known elsewhere as Futurism, Cubism, and Dadaism. Poet Menotti del Pichia summarized the aims of the new artistic movement with these words: "We want light, air, ventilators, airplanes, workers' demands, idealism, motors, factory smokestacks, blood, speed, dream in our Art." The most important leader of the literary phase of this movement was Mário de Andrade (1893-1945) who wrote poetry, essays on literature, art, music, and Brazilian folklore, and Macunaíma, which he called "a rhapsody, not a novel". Oswald de Andrade (1890-1953) wrote a collection of poems entitled Pau-Brasil (Brazilwood) which evaluated Brazilian culture, superstitions, and family life in simple language, economically, and, for the first time in Brazilian poetry, with humour.
 The transition to a more spontaneous literary approach is represented by poets Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987), who used irony to dissect the customs of the time, and Manuel Bandeira (1886-1968), who built language associations around proverbs and popular expressions. Bandeira wanted his last poem "to be eternal, saying the simplest and least intentional things". The modern Brazilian novel took on a new shape and social content after José Américo de Almeida (1887-1969) wrote A Bagaceira, a pioneer story about the harsh conditions of life in the backward northeast. He was followed by Jorge Amado (1902-), Graciliano Ramos (1892-1953), José Lins do Rego (1901-1957), and Rachel de Queiroz (1910-), all noted for the power of their images in evoking the problems and hardships of life in the northeast region where they were born. Graciliano Ramos, whose books were also widely adapted to films and television, is the strongest representative of a generation of writers (among which Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Jorge Amado and José Lins do Rego) who dedicated their prose to combat social inequalities and raise concern for the subsequent ousting of the authoritarian regime of the first Vargas era (1937-1945). His main works include Vidas Secas (Barren Lives), Angústia (Anguish) São Bernardo and Memórias do Cárcere (Memories of Prison).
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