Three sad races Racial identity and national consciousness in Brazilian literature
Three sad races Racial identity and national consciousness in Brazilian literature Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese University of Virginia Cambridge University Press Cambridge London New York New Rochelle Melbourne Sydney
cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 8ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York Information on this title: /9780521155342 Cambridge University Press 1983 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1983 First paperback edition 2010 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data Haberly, David T. Three sad races Bibliography:p. Includes index. 1. Brazilian literature - History and cricitism. 2. Nationalism and literature- Brazil. 3. Race awareness in literature. I. Title PQ9522.N27H3 869.09 981 82-4467 ISBN0 521 24722 5 AACR2 isbn 978-0-521-24722-1 Hardback isbn 978-0-521-15534-2 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. The author wishes to thank the following for supplying the photographs that appear on chapter-opening pages: Editora Nova Aguilar (Antonio Gon<;alves Dias and Antonio de Castro Alves), Manchete Gose de Alencar and Joao da Cruz e Sousa), Biblioteca Nacional de Rio de Janeiro Goaquim Maria Machado de Assis), and Joao Candido Portnari (photograph of the portrait of Mario de Andrade by his father, Candido Portinari).
TO CAROL WHO TAUGHT ME HOW TO WRITE
Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 From Indians to Indianism 2 The songs of an exile: Antonio Gon<;alves Dias 3 The novelist as matchmaker: Jose de Alencar 4 The poet as slave: Antonio de Castro Alves 5 A journey through the escape hatch: Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis 6 The Black Swan: Joao da Cruz e Sousa 7 From despair to Modernism 8 The harlequin: Mario de Andrade Conclusion: The Edenic metaphor Notes Selected bibliography Index page ix 1 10 18 32 51 99 123 135 161 174 188 196 vii
Acknowledgments This book owes a great deal to a number of people and institutions. I am grateful, first, to two of my teachers, Francis M. Rogers and Raymond S. Sayers. I am also grateful to friends and colleagues, in Brazil and the United States, for their assistance and encouragement: Haroldo de Campos, Kenneth Chastain, Nereu Correa, Santiago Daydi-Tolson, Joao David Ferreira Lima, David Gies, Javier Herrero, Lemuel Johnson, Rosa Konder, Roberto and Magda Laus, Alfred Mac Adam, Jane Malinoff, Thomas Skidmore, and Jon Tolman. Any errors of fact or interpretation, of course, are entirely my own. The Interlibrary Loan Office of the University of Virginia library tracked down an astonishing number of rare and obscure publications for me. My research in Brazil was greatly facilitated by the staffs of the libraries of the federal universities of Ceara and Santa Catarina; the municipal libraries of Florian6polis, Fortaleza, and Sao Paulo; the National Library in Rio; and the collection of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. My two research trips to Brazil were made possible by the Virginia-Santa Catarina partnership of the Partners of the Americas and by the University of Virginia, which awarded me a Sesquicentennial Research Associateship. Very special thanks go to my wife, whose invaluable assistance proved once again how handy it is to have a professional writer and editor around the house. All translations in the text, unless otherwise noted, are my own; the Portuguese originals of individual poems cited in English translation can be found in the notes. ix
x Acknowledgments Brazilian poetry frequently uses ellipsis (reticencias) as a literary device; this usage is shown, in the translations, by unspaced periods. The standard English ellipsis, signifying the omission of portions of a cited text, appears as spaced periods. D.T.H.