First published in 1890, and undoubtedly Azevedo's masterpiece, The Slum is one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed novels ever written about Brazil. Indeed, its great popularity, realistic descriptions, archetypal situations, detailed local coloring, and overall race-consciousness may well evoke Huckleberry Finn as the novel's North American equivalent. Yet Azevedo also exhibits the naturalism of Zola and the ironic distance of Balzac; while tragic, beautiful, and imaginative as a work of fiction, The Slum is universally regarded as one of the best, or truest, portraits of Brazilian society ever rendered. This is a vivid and complex tale of passion and greed, a story with many different strands touching on the different economic tiers of society. Mainly, however, The Slum thrives on two intersecting story lines. In one narrative, a penny-pinching immigrant landlord strives to become a rich investor and then discards his black lover for a wealthy white woman. In the other, we witness the innocent yet dangerous love affair between a strong, pragmatic, "gentle giant" sort of immigrant and a vivacious mulatto woman who both live in a tenement owned by said landlord. The two immigrant heroes are originally Portuguese, and thus personify two alternate outsider responses to Brazil. As translator David H. Rosenthal points out in his useful Introduction: one is the capitalist drawn to new markets, quick prestige, and untapped resources; the other, the prudent European drawn moth-like to "the light and sexual heat of the tropics." A deftly told, deeply moving, and hardscrabble novel that features several stirring passages about life in the streets, the melting-pot realities of the modern city, and the oft-unstable mind of the crowd, The Slum will captivate anyone who might appreciate a more poetic, less political take on the nineteenth-century naturalism of Crane or Dreiser.

The Slum (Library of Latin America)

Literature & Fiction

Azevedo, Aluísio

United States

Oxford University Press

First published in 1890, and undoubtedly Azevedo's masterpiece, The Slum is one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed novels ever written about Brazil. Indeed, its great popularity, realistic descriptions, archetypal situations, detailed local coloring, and overall race-consciousness may well evoke Huckleberry Finn as the novel's North American equivalent. Yet Azevedo also exhibits the naturalism of Zola and the ironic distance of Balzac; while tragic, beautiful, and imaginative as a work of fiction, The Slum is universally regarded as one of the best, or truest, portraits of Brazilian society ever rendered. This is a vivid and complex tale of passion and greed, a story with many different strands touching on the different economic tiers of society. Mainly, however, The Slum thrives on two intersecting story lines. In one narrative, a penny-pinching immigrant landlord strives to become a rich investor and then discards his black lover for a wealthy white woman. In the other, we witness the innocent yet dangerous love affair between a strong, pragmatic, "gentle giant" sort of immigrant and a vivacious mulatto woman who both live in a tenement owned by said landlord. The two immigrant heroes are originally Portuguese, and thus personify two alternate outsider responses to Brazil. As translator David H. Rosenthal points out in his useful Introduction: one is the capitalist drawn to new markets, quick prestige, and untapped resources; the other, the prudent European drawn moth-like to "the light and sexual heat of the tropics." A deftly told, deeply moving, and hardscrabble novel that features several stirring passages about life in the streets, the melting-pot realities of the modern city, and the oft-unstable mind of the crowd, The Slum will captivate anyone who might appreciate a more poetic, less political take on the nineteenth-century naturalism of Crane or Dreiser.

In 1881, Brazilian Aluisio Azevedo published Mulatto, a scathing expose of his native city, Sao Luis do Maranhao. Polemic as well as love story, it brought him much notoriety and is generally considered the first Brazilian naturalist novel. Set before the abolition of slavery and the establishment of the first republic, Mulatto tells the story of Raimundo, a young Brazilian of liberal ideas. Kept in ignorance of the identity of his mother and the secret of his mixed birth, Raimundo is educated in Europe and, upon returning to Brazil, struggles against the provincial and bigoted society he encounters. Mulatto reveals its author's opposition to both the clergy, whose corruption and influence he denounced, and the racist agrarian society still dependent upon slavery. This English translation of Mulatto was first published in 1990 by Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.

Mulatto (Texas Pan American Series)

Patai, Daphne

Literary

Univ of Texas Pr

Set in the provincial Brazilian state of Maranhao before the abolition of slavery and the establishment of the first republic, this scathing expose relates the story of Raimundo, a young Brazilian of liberal ideas. Mulatto is also a love story, set in motion by biology and sentiment.

Mulatto

Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Representing the height of Brazilian Naturalism, O Cortiço is Aluísio Azevedo's critique of unchecked ambition in Brazilian society of his day. João Romão, an imigrant Portuguese man, builds a tenement (Cortiço) on the money and work of his mulatto lover, Bertoleza. The tenement's residents fight with those of another tenement, leading to a fire that destroys much of the building. But Romão rebuilds and is soon wealthy and looks to marry an educated woman, leaving Bertoleza, who kills herself.

O Cortiço (Classicos da Literatura Brasileira) (Portuguese Edition)

Luso-Brazilian Books

"O Cortiço" from Aluísio Azevedo. Romancista, contista, cronista, diplomata, caricaturista e jornalista brasileiro (1857-1913).

O Cortiço (Perfect Library) (Portuguese Edition)

Classics

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

"O Mulato" from Alu#65533;sio Azevedo. Romancista, contista, cronista, diplomata, caricaturista e jornalista brasileiro (1857-1913).

O Mulato (Perfect Library) (Portuguese Edition)

Como suele ocurrir con algunas de las novelas fundamentales del continente americano, El mulato, un verdadero clásico de la narrativa brasileña, rompe los moldes europeos en los que se basa y consigue un tejido extraño, nuevo, engañosamente ingenuo, donde el naturalismo se libera de toda ortodoxia para dejarse conteminar por el dinamismo y la sorpresa del folletín romántico, la novela de aventuras o de misterio. Una combinación feliz y excéntrica que los lectores no podemos dejar de celebrar. Cumpliendo a cabalidad la máxima borgiana de que los libros se corrigen solos con el paso de los años, El mulato demuestra que su arsenal de clichés, sus estrafalarios personajes y todo el color local de sus descripciones están en realidad al servicio de una trama delirante que acaba configurando una lúcida parábola política y un alegato feroz contra las escuelas sociales del colonialismo y la educación clerical.

El mulato

Genre Fiction

A. Machado Libros S. A.

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Books by Azevedo, Aluísio

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The Slum (Library of Latin America)

The Slum (Library of Latin America)

Mulatto (Texas Pan American Series)

Mulatto

O Cortiço (Classicos da Literatura Brasileira) (Portuguese Edition)

O Cortiço (Perfect Library) (Portuguese Edition)

O Mulato (Perfect Library) (Portuguese Edition)

El mulato