Brazilian literature has existed since the 1500s, if not earlier. Many of these authors have influenced other writers and literature throughout the centuries as well as provided great insight into the many facets of these great culture.
Producing works during the colonial period, the first well known Brazilian Author is Pero Vaz de Caminha to Manuel I of Portugal. He was credited with writing Carta de Pero Vaz de Caminha. Carta de Pero Vaz de Caminha translates loosely to Pero Vaz de Caminha’s letter. The Pero Vaz de Caminha’s letter is a descriptive book, detailing what Brazil was like prior to their independence from Portugal. Along with all other works produced in Brazil, the Carta de Pero Vaz de Caminha is written in Portuguese.
Also produced during the colonial period were many poems including the most well known epic poem by Basílio da Gama, and religious and secular poetry from Gregório de Mattos.
When you think of Brazil, you can’t help but think of romance. This romantic impression was a result of Brazilian literary authors from the Romanticism period that began in 1836. The Romanticism period again produced many poets and epic poems. Gonçalves de Magalhães, and Casimiro de Abreu were poets from this time frame.
Along with the poems of the Romanticism period, there were also many novels that were written. Novels were not produced in book form; however, they were released to local newspapers. Like today, the authors of the Romanticism period became celebrities.
The second half of the Romanticism period brought a strange obsession with morbidity and death. Álvares de Azevedo’s novel Noite na Taverna (A Night at the Tavern) and poetry described death and dying frequently. At the same time the Brazilian authors Castro Alves and José de Alencar were writing about Indian ancestry. As you can see, there was variety and literature usually captured the existing cultures of a particular time.
After the period of Romanticism came Realism, and the most important author in Brazil, Machado de Assis. De Assis never had any formal schooling and all of what he learned came from books he had borrowed. The most well known novels and short stories by de Assis are Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, Dom Casmurro, Quincas Borba, and O Alienista. De Assis also wrote poetry, but it never gained popularity.
Following Realism were the Pre-modernism, Modernism, and Post-modernism periods. Euclides da Cunha influenced this period of writing with his controversial three part book Os Sertões. The Modernism periods were long lasting, from 1895 all the way to the 1960’s. Alongside da Cunha, other influential Brazilian literature authors were brothers Mário de Andrade and Oswald de Andrade, and poet João Cabral de Melo Neto.
The most recent style of writing in Brazi is Contemporary. The most well known of Contemporary authors are poets Ferreira Gullar and Manoel de Barros, both of whom have been nominated for the Nobel Prize.
In the Contemporary phase of Brazilian literature, it is no longer as difficult to have works published as it was back in the Romanticism period. There are currently over twenty publishing companies in Brazil, some of which date back more than 40 years. These companies produce everything from religious books, to self help, to children’s books, and of course the well known poems and novels that have developed Brazilian literature into what it is today.
