Kirkus Reviews QR Code
BRAZILIAN LITERATURE by Erico Verissimo

BRAZILIAN LITERATURE

By

Pub Date: Jan. 30th, 1945
Publisher: Macmillan

Subtitled ""An Outline"" -- this should prove a stimulating introduction to better understanding of Brazilian writing as a reflection of a country and a people at a time when our neighbors to the South need better understanding. He shows his people as a Bohemian folk who rely too much on God. Through 400 years of their history their intellectual life reflected the fashions of Europe, but with the 20th century, their writers for the first time concerned themselves with social and moral problems. He traces the history of the country in brief outline -- the paralleling of phases of literature up to the period of romanticism when the first links were formed with the realism of the moderns by the first novelists of note, and by the poet, Castro Alves (19th century). Then names come faster come faster, with a growing body of writing, Pompei, Machada de Assix, da Cunha -- the three writers to whom he attributes permanent fame. The first World War and its effect on Brazilian writing; the years between, and the Fascist influence, reflected by Salgado and others. And the '30's -- and Brazilian literature comes of age; social and philosophical problems become major issues. he gives a rapid outline of leaders in all literary fields. At the close he defines the patchwork quilt of Brazil as unified by a common language and common psychological trends...Excellent bibliography...Reference tool, written with a sprightly humor and a freshness of viewpoint.