#mariodeandrade

Books Read This Year; Backlands: The Canudos Campaign by Euclides da Cunha, Macunaíma: The Hero With No Character by Mario de Andrade, Hippie by Paulo Coelho and Captains of the Sands by Jorge Amado

All throughout the year, my piece of Brazilian literature mostly focused on the northeastern part of Brazil. In Backlands, I explored the northeastern part of Brazil. With its dry, arid and empty lands, I learned of the mountains and sertões surrounding areas like the Bahia, Alagoas, Pernambuco, Ceara, Piauí and Maranhão. During the summer, the sertão is known for being so dry that even rain is impossible to get. Macunaíma mostly takes place in Brazil's beautiful, lush and dense rainforests with its main character, Macunaíma growing up and living there. Before he became the Hero With No Character, he was thrown away by his mother in a spacious clearing within the beautiful forest. Captains of the Sands takes place in the Bahia, specifically the capital, Salvador. Based on the fact that the Captains lived on a warehouse along the docks of Salvador, I learned that it was somewhat of a coastal city, with beautiful beaches and a lot of vendors surrounding it.

While reading these books, I learned a good amount of Brazilian history. For example, In Backlands, I learned about Antonio Conselheiro, a rebel that led one of the bloodiest uprisings in Brazil. Before this, his family was known as a dangerous family, killing several rich people and pillaging their fortunes. Conselheiro changed that when he decided to become a leader and try to help the northeast be free of southern rule. Macunaíma, however is slightly different. It is neither fully history nor truth, rather a mixture of both. Since almost all of the characters in the book are fake, the events that happen throughout the book are real and always tie in with Macunaíma and his brothers' escapades. Hippie takes place in the 70s and the 70s was a strange time for the world. While reading that book, I learned more about the hippie movement, especially about magic buses, buses that would travel entire continents to get their inebriated passengers to spiritual places like Nepal, for instance. Coelho and his new friend travel from Amsterdam to Kathmandu and on the way, they stop in Constantinople which is now know as Istanbul. I also learned that many. "hippies" were not dedicated to the lifestyle. They merely saw it as a trend and rolled on with the times. Many gave up and returned home to get real jobs and start families after they were done "exploring."

Brazil's culture is very rich and while Hippie doesn't strictly talk about it, Macunaíma does. Many of the adventures Macunaíma and his brothers go on inadvertently cause some shift in Brazilian culture. When Macunaíma first met Ci, the amazon queen of the forest and married her, she later on died and became a star and gave Macunaíma a talisman that was then taken from him and he embarks on a journey to find it. Later on in the book, Macunaíma travels to São Paulo where he attends a festival and talks about the Cruzeiro do Sul and how it is a god, not just a cluster of stars. Mainly, the first few chapters take many things from indigenous culture in Brazil. For example, the author, Mario De Andrade made Macunaíma's catchphrase, "Aí, que preguiça!" which is a fusion of Portuguese and the Tupi language. "Aí," means sloth in Tupi, whereas "preguiça" is the Portuguese word for sloth. This book was also published during Brazil's famous modernism movement. Some say it was one of the founding pieces of literature for the movement. It was published six years after the "Semana de Arte Moderna," and symbolized the beginning of the movement.

From Backlands: The Canudos Campaign, I learned that despite facing difficult odds, in life you must over come that adversity and keep moving on. While reading Macunaíma: The Hero With No Character, I learned that in life, your identity is fluid and it can change many times, so don't try to suppress or change it. In Hippie, I learned that in order to live life, you must embrace the unknown and challenge yourself. Take risks and learn before its too late. Finally, I Captains of the Sands, I learned that I should not let my circumstances dictate who I am or what I am going to be. In life, there will be people who put pressure and doubt your abilities because of where you are from and you shouldn't let that shake your worth.

Some things I learned about myself while reading these books is that I love Brazilian literature. It is incredibly abstract and different than English or American literature. Although some literary works may be difficult to comprehend (mostly because of translation), I think that reading books from a different country can change your previous perspective on a country, it sure changed mine. It made me want to learn more about Brazil and ignited a new flame for Brazilian literature. While I am not done with Captains of the Sands, I will continue to read it because its a well-written book full of humor and societal commentary. This is my OFFICIAL final blog post. Acabou, and muito obrigado. victoriasbrazilianlitblog, out!

Considero o livro mais difícil que já li, enquanto estudava sociologia, descobri sobre o movimento antropofágico e calhou de estar lendo esse livro e este foi meu incentivo.

Mario de Andrade realmente descreve o Brasil através desta obra por meio desta lenda que é o Macunaíma, confesso que me perdi diversas vezes em referências culturais, o que é muito engraçado perceber que uma brasileira não conhece coisas especificas sobre o próprio país, me pergunto sobre o que o grupo dos cinco achariam da atual conjuntura em que os cidadãos conhecem e se interessam sobre a cultura de países montados e organizados, enquanto o nosso é tão vasto.

Essa leitura foi desafiadora, ainda bem que foi ela a primeira do ano, há uma coisa entre tentar ler clássicos, principalmente mais antigos e principalmente quando falo de realismo fantástico, que é a observação de um mundo por uma lente tão única, sinto que rodei o país neste livro e ainda voltei no tempo, para uma São Paulo de 1930 e com um olhar mística, logo esta cidade que amo e odeio tanto.

A mágica dos clássicos sempre me mostra o porquê eles são clássicos.

This week, I read pages 163-180 of Mario De Andrade's, Macunaíma. Unfortunately, I reached the end of the book. Although Macunaíma is a difficult read, it was a very fun book filled with vivid descriptions of different cultures housed in Brazil. Mario De Andrade uses hyperbole often and makes it very easy for the reader to imagine themselves as Macunaíma and his friends. The most important sentence is "I've sung these cares to the world, telling all the sayings and doings of Macunaíma, hero of our people." The book ends with this quote as Macunaíma's farewell to the world.

Pages 163-180 are the last three chapters of the book, 163 being titled Uraricoera, 174 being Ursa Major and 180 being the epilogue. Chapter 16 isn't a farewell chapter, rather Macunaíma's reminiscing of easier times back when he was a boy, messing with his brothers, being left for dead by his mother because of his hatred for his brothers. De Andrade captures that feeling of nostalgia by having Macunaíma lay in his hammock, almost falling asleep while telling the stories of his past to any creature who would listen. His brothers already left him, they turned into trees in the Amazon forest. All that was left was Macunaíma.

In the Epilogue, it is said that Macunaíma turned into the constellation, Ursa Major and his tale was thought to be lost due to the extinction of his tribe and his brothers turning into trees but it wasn't. For those creatures that stood by and listened to Macunaíma's tales spread them all throughout Brazil and the tale somehow ended up in Mario De Andrade's hands.

This week, I read pages 129-152 of Mario De Andrade's, Macunaíma. The most important quote was "At last, it was all familiar as ever." It means that Macunaíma's tendencies to get in trouble was more familiar to him than his brothers or his life, well, his life was getting in trouble.

After reading about the return of Venceslau Pietro Pietra a.k.a Piamã the Giant Eater, Macunaíma's brother Maanape bursts into their shared tent and tells Macunaima the news. Ecstatic, Macunaíma and his two brothers seek Piamã out, ready to extract some more revenge on the giant. While waiting for the giant, Macunaíma gets attacked by ticks and termites. The bugs don't stop and Macunaíma was left exposed. Macunaíma was lucky, however, it was not Piamã who showed up but rather the Father of Sleep. Macunaíma knew not to mess with him but when trying to sleep, he kept waking up. THat's when Macunaíma knew that he had to catch the Father of Sleep in order to get a good rest.

Ever persistent, Macunaíma chased after the Father and while hiding around some bushes, he tried to catch some shut eye. The Father walks up to Macunaíma and examines him. He knows why he came and was still furious with the audacity that Macunaíma had to come after him like that. So, the Father of Sleep punishes humankind by taking away the ability to sleep standing up.