Travel Tips

In this travelogue I will recommend books about Brazil, its culture(s) and heritages. Feel free to recommend some you acquired when visiting my country.

It all goes with the project of diving deep in one's universe, not only surfing the surface...

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VIVA O POVO BRASILEIRO

by Joao Ubaldo Ribeiro, great writer born in Bahia, in the Island of Itaparica, just across the bay from my window. His style is wonderful, his irony is lethal and his creativity is supreme.

"Viva o povo Brasileiro" is probably one of the most important books in our literature. Why? According to Linda Huchteon, every history is told from a partial angle, generally from the angle of those who won, of the class that is dominating. So for years brazilians (and still) have heard about this great white portuguese princess that set the slaves free (and ignored all the anti-slavery battles before the darn law was finally signed) and that the natives were lazy and dumb and monstruous because of canibalism...

In "Viva o Povo Brasileiro" (translated at least to French, German and English), Joao Ubaldo tells the brazilian history from the angle of the outcasts. The creates a new myth of origin for the country. And the book is basic to understand a lot of our culture and behaviour. Delicious reading, do not be frightened by its huge number of pages.

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SALVADOR

A Book with wonderful pictures by the photographer Cravo Neto shows the daily life and ryths of Salvador. Too bad there are also pictures of ACM (dictator) and his political child, Imbassahy. But you can draw moustaches on them...

Visit Cravo Neto's site for more samples. English version available.

http://www.cravoneto.com.br

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CAPTAINS OF SAND

by Jorge Amado, "brazilian novelist whose political and comic novels have been translated into 50 languages.His books include Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon (1958) and Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1966).".

The book I would like to recommend here though is "Captains of Sand". Amazon.com will tell you why:

"Timeless protrayal of Brazil's Poverty, January 29, 2002
Reviewer: Thomas F. O'Gara from Monticello, Florida United States

Amado's literary output falls rather neatly into two periods. His early work is imbued with a strong sense of social responsibility, a fact for which he had some difficulty under the Vargas regime, and I believe he may have even done a short stint in jail over. The second period, the post-"Gabriela" books, are a lot more laid back and anecdotal.

Sorry to say that in general the second period is the one that's more fun to read, and the books he wrote in the second half of his life are what established his international reputation. A lot of his earlier stuff is not that great, with one exception - this book.

The story is about the kids on the street in Fortaleza, back in the 1930's. To say that they're poor doesn't do justice to it - they live on the street. By necessity they're thieves, but you can't help liking them. They have aspirations of their own in life.

Explaining it in a few words like that may make the American reader think that he's dealing with some "Angels with Dirty Faces" sort of story. It's not. This is not a sentimental novel. It's a reflection of some of the hard realities of Brazilian life, like the urban poverty that never seems to disappear. But it also reflects some of the inherent optimism and the very un-American concern with each other that Brazilians manifest - features of their society that make Brazil such a wonderful place."

As for my testimony, I can say that, stranger as it may sound, I only really knew my city after I read that book. It was writen decades ago, but remains very very very up to date...

more to come...