JOSÉ LINS DO REGO |PLANTATION BOY | 19Th JULY 2018, 6.30-9 PM

BRAZILIAN BILINGUAL BOOK CLUB | JOSÉ LINS DO REGO |PLANTATION BOY | 19th JULY 2018, 6.30-9 PM

2018 – The year of reading Brazilian Literary Greats & unlocking the power of our minds!

JOSÉ LINS DO REGO (1901- 1957)

Menino de engenho (1932) translated into English as

Plantation Boy (1966)

José Lins do Rego’s first novel Menino do Engenho is set at a sugar plantation* in the northeast of Brazil.

Narrated exquisitely by this master wordsmith and author of Pureza (1937)**

Carlinhos, a four-year boy shocked by the murder of his mother by his father: taken by train to the mother’s grandparents’ manor house, his adjustment to rural life with (mis)adventures of growing up at his extensive grandfather’s sugar plantation life in the Atlantic forest biomes sometime post 1875…

Carlinhos becomes acquainted with benevolent & rotten characters, both real & mythical: this patriarchal grandfather Col. José Paulino, the fabulous storyteller the elderly Totônia, the cangaceiro Antônio Silvino, the private tutors & their wickedness, moleques, José Cutia (also the ‘apothecary’ or traditional doctor) or is he the werewolf prowling in the Mata do Rolo? … the naughty selfish Zefa Cajá indulging in perverse pleasures…

This novel contains of the most scenic depictions of a spectacle of the force of nature – when winter comes and a trickle of a stream becomes a mighty monstrous serpent-like muddy clay river ravishing all in its way … yet welcome as its re-fertilizes the soil where sugar cane is grown.

A botanist’s treasure trove as it refers to a vast quantity of flora – the huge marizeiros, pau d’arco, cipós (used in every north-eastern art and craft) to guava trees and fruit and more.

Regrettably, much was lost in the translation, a great deal of relevant local detail excised and spicier passages removed (translator’s/ editor’s censorship!?).

*Sugar plantations, initiated by the Portuguese in Brazil in 1530s, first seedlings brought from Ilha da Madeira via the colonizing expedition of the explorer Martim Afonso de Souza (c.1500-1564) came to be the largest agricultural enterprise in the Western world through the 16th to 18th century. The narrative evolves against the background of memories of hundreds of years of plantations initiated in 1500s by the Portuguese explorers and brought to maximum effectiveness by the Jesuits, establishing a very long agricultural and industrial history in the northeast of Brazil. With the transport improvements – the railways became a major contributor to the sugar industry. The British would learn from Brazil in setting up their plantations in the Caribbean (see, for example) (2013) Liverpool: The Hurricane Port by Andrew Lees. An engenho is a vast complex business with various components shrewdly described in this relatively short novel. **Our book club read it in May 2017 visit https://sistemas.mre.gov.br/kitweb/datafiles/Londres/en- us/file/cul-bookclub-18-pureza.pdf

DETAILS OF AVAILABLE PUBLICATIONS:

ENGLISH 1966 Plantation Boy translated by Emmi Baum published by Alfred A. Knopf New York ISBN-10: 9997555414 ISBN-13: 978-9997555410

PORTUGUESE 1932 Menino do Engenho - various editions and continues in print to date Various editions & free downloads http://edmundomonte.com.br/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Menino-de- Engenho_Jos%C3%A9-Lins-do-Rego.pdf

SHORT HISTORY OF THE BOOK AND TRANSLATIONS

Menino do Engenho is story which José Lins do Rego had begun to draft in his teenage years and his three handwritten notebooks had an original title Memórias de um menino de engenho. Memórias, was certainly a nod to his readings of Machado de Assis (1839-1908), whom he admired greatly. The word memórias were crossed out as shown in a facsimile reproduction included in the 70th softback edition of the book (1957).

. Photo: N. Kerecuk

Valdemar Cavalcanti (1912-1982) left an account of how J. Lins do Rego told him that he was going ‘to write a book, a sort of memoir’ as they walked the streets of Maceió, the capital city of Alagoas towards the end of 1931. They were lifelong friends and it was Valdemar Cavalcanti who typed Menino do Engenho. Valdemar Cavalcanti has been a rather neglected author and literary critic/journalist. He initiated a daily column in O jornal’ founded in 1919 and, in 1924, purchased by Assis Chateaubriand (1893-1968) with a large circulation in Rio de Janeiro. Valdemar Cavalcanti, much as José Lins do Rego, participated in the what could be described as the replication of 1922 Week of Modern Art in the northeast and also what came to be known the great year of Brazilian novels in 1930. The friendship between Valdemar Cavalcanti and José Lins continued solidly as they moved to the federal capital Rio de Janeiro where they had moved. They would participate the famous Saturday writers’ and intellectuals’ gatherings at the home of the lawyer and bibliophile Plinio Doyle (1906-2000), the ‘sabadoyles’. Equally the two friends attended the famous Fla-Flu matches at the Maracanã Stadium. The publishing house José Olympio, which had published Menino de Engenho in 1932, published the only book by Valdemar Cavalcanti - Jornal Literário – in 1960. He was an honorary member of the French Academy of Letters and the Alagoas Academy of Letters. He won two prestigious literary prizes, the Jabuti in 1965 and Machado de Assis in 1974.

Valdemar Cavalcanti (1912-1982)

José Lins do Rego has a dedication in his Menino do Engenho to José Américo de Almeida (1881-1980), Jorge de Lima (1893-1953), Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987) and Olívio Montenegro (1896-1962). The covers and various editions bring various forewords, which reflect interpretations of various periods with captivating illustrations. Another feature in most editions is a glossary of north-eastern words, recording the lexical variation of the local Paraiban and other northeastern Brazilian Portuguese (e.g. jerimum for abóbora (pumpkin) macaxeira for aipim/mandioca (cassava), copiá for alpendre/varanda (veranda), and much more).

Translations

Menino do Engenho was translated into Spanish (Argentina) in 1946, French in 1953 and reprinted in 2013, into English (USA) in 1966, Korean in 1972 and Italian in 1974. The translation into English – Plantation Boy (pages 3 to 109) was made by Emmi Baum and published by Alfred A Knopf in 1966. The publication also brings translations of Doidinho (1933) and Bangüê (1934). The translator (and/or the editor) excised various sections of the original text, thus making it more anodyne. Some of the Brazilian terms were retained in the English text but there is a lack of consistency. Another type of ‘simplification’ is the substitution of place names, which are highly significant geographical markers in J. Lins do Rego, thus, losing the historic and socio-cultural references. Some inconsistencies became glaring as in one instance bacalhau is translated oddly as ‘smoked cod’; Brazilians do not smoke salt cod which is dry. There is a short glossary at the end of the book with various inconsistencies and mistranslations. For instance, sertão is translated as ‘prarie’ in the body of the text but the gleaning in the glossary is ‘hinterland, backland, the interior’ (p. 530). The name of trees and fruit are also confused. For example, umbu or imbu (Spondias tuberosa) and the tree umbuzeiro is Brazil plum, a tropical fruit. Yet there is a separate entry for imbu translated as ‘Spanish plum or cherry’ (p. 529); Peroba tree is not a fig tree as the glossary states – there are various varieties of peroba (Apocynaceae and Bignoniaceae) and used as timer peroba rosa (Aspidosperma polyneuron); marizeiro gleaned as ‘fruit tree’ (also – umarizeiro, umari or mari) Geoffroea spinose is a tropical fruit and the tree is a weeping tree, the fruit is known as mari . Alfred A. Knopf has published many such reduced and adapted translations of Brazilian literature and certainly impacted on the how the books were read or rather not read. Their publications removed the spice and often acted as ‘judges’ or ‘censors’ of passages, which may have been thematically challenging. No wonder that the Kirkus review of 13th June 1966 was less than complementary of the novels. There is very little extant information about the translator. Emmi Baum’s dissertation manuscript "Empress Leopoldina: Her Role in the Development of Brazil, 1817- 1826" (Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1965) https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1537025 and book review below.

The novel was adapted to the cinema by Walter Lima Junior (1938-) in 1965. Full details of the film can be found at the site of the Cinemateca Brasileira. http://cinemateca.gov.br/. There is a cartoon adaptation of his Menino de Engenho, de J. Lins do Rego. [Direção de Adolfo Aizen; Desenhos de André Le Blanc]. . (Edição Maravilhosa). Revista em Quadrinhos, Ano: Ano VII – Março de 1955 – N.100 –, Rio de Janeiro: Editora Brasil- América (EBAL), 1955, 50 p.

His oeuvre continues to inspire various interpretations including in ‘cordel’ format.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

JOSÉ LINS DO REGO (1901- 1957)

1939 Portrait of José Lins do Rego by | photo from the J. Lins do Rego Museum Cândido Portinari (1903-62)

José Lins do Rego (José Lins do Rego Cavalcanti) was born in Engenho Corredor, in the town of Pilar in the state of Paraíba on 3rd June 1901, and died in the city of Rio de Janeiro in the state of Rio de Janeiro on 12th September 1957. Son of João do Rego Cavalcanti, owner of a famous sugar mill, Engenho Tapuá, in the municipality of São Miguel de Taipu, Paraíba and Amélia Lins Cavalcanti. His mother was killed by his father in a fit of schizophrenia, and then young son was moved to his grandfather’s sugar mill. His grandfather was the prominent Colonel Bubu do Corredor, José Lins Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, owner of eight sugar mills. Young Lins do Rego remained in Corredor until the age of 12. He started his education at the boarding school Colégio de Itabaiana in Paraíba and, then, at the Instituto Nossa Senhora do Carmo and at Colégio Diocesano Pio X in João Pessoa, capital of the state. Following that he studied at the Colégio Carneiro Leão e Osvaldo Cruz in Recife, capital of the state of Pernambuco. In 1920, he started his law degree at the University in Recife.

The house of Engenho do Corredor, Pilar- Paraíba. Birthplace of José Lins do Rego.

He had inherited various roots from his forebears linked to the Brazilian northeast, from a long line of people engaged in the sugar cane plantations, mills and industry, of senzalas and black slaves, who moulded that part of Brazil from the times of the first sugar plantations established by the early Portuguese settlers and Jesuits. In his childhood in the countryside, he witnessed the decline of the traditional sugar mills replaced by industries effecting great socio-economic changes, which greatly concerned him. At high school, he showed his precocious literary talents. Various literary influences would bring inspiration to him: in 1916, as a boarder he discovered O Ateneu by Raul Pompéia. O Ateneu is a repository of most interesting ideas on education and universal culture. In 1918, at the age of 17 he discovered Machado de Assis through Dom Casmurro and he often reiterated how much Machado de Assis was a major influence on him. Society and ethics was very much a key concern for Machado de Assis and José Lins do Rego would emulate him. Whilst reading law, he started writing for the Jornal do Recife, which launched in the 19th c. and continued into the 20th with notable intellectuals contributing to it, for instance Tobias Barreto (1839-1889), Barbosa Lima Sobrinho (1897-2000), Assis Chateaubriand (1892-1968), to mention but a few. He made acquaintance with Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987), who influenced him and became a life-long friend. In1922, he founded a weekly Dom Casmurro with Osório Borba (1900-1960). He made various literary friends there: José Américo de Almeida (1887-1980), Osório Borba, Luís Delgado, Aníbal Fernandes. In1923, José Lins do Rego obtained his degree as a Bachelor of Law. In 1924, he married his cousin Philomena (Naná) Massa Lins do Rego, daughter of the Old Republic Senator Antônio Massa (1864-1958). They had three daughters. In 1925, he started working a public prosecutor in Manhuaçu in the state of Minas Gerais, but soon resigned moving to Maceió, the capital of Alagoas in 1926 working as a bank inspector until1930, and consumer goods inspector from 1931 to 1935. There he began to write for Jornal de Alagoas and joined a group of authors and intellectuals, for example, Graciliano Ramos (author of Vidas Secas), Rachel de Queiroz (author of O Quinze), the great lexicographer Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, the poet Jorge de Lima, the notable journalist Valdemar Cavalcanti, Aloísio Branco, Carlos Paurílio. He published his first book Menino de engenho there in 1932, a key modern Brazilian novel. João Ribeiro praised the novel for which he was awarded the Graça Aranha Foundation Prize. In the following year, he published Doidinho. His literary career was successfully launched and he would move to the federal capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, in 1935 continuing to publish successfully. He was awarded another two literary prizes, the Felipe d’Oliveira Prize for his novel Água-mãe (1941), and the Fábio Prado for Eurídice (1947). In 1955, he became a patron of chair 25 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and formally welcomed by the academician Austregésilo de Athayde (1898-1993) on15th December 1956. His address to the Academy needs to be (re)read as it mirrors many of his ideas, motivations and principles and continues to have a great freshness. His innovative approach to collaborative novel writing is further corroborated by the novel Brandão entre o mar e o amor written jointly with Jorge Amado, Graciliano Ramos, Aníbal Machado and Rachel de Queiroz. José Lins do Rego, wrote the second chapter ‘O mistério de Brandão (Glória)’ for this novel. It was published in 1942 (São Paulo: Martins). José Lins do Rego was also mad about football and served in various capacities at Clube de Regatas Flamengo and the Brazilian Sport Confederation (extinguished in 1978 and replaced by CBF). In addition to the film based on Pureza, other novels were made into films: Menino de engenho (1965), by Glauber Rocha and Walter Lima Júnior, directed by Walter Lima Júnior and Fogo morto by Miguel Borges directed by Marcos Faria.

And documentaries:

 José Lins do Rego produced by José Olympio Editora directed by Walter Lima Júnior & awarded the National Cinema Institute Prize (shorts) in 1969.  José Lins do Rego (short). Produced by José Lins do Rego: Engenho e Arte (documentary) by TV Escola, directed by Hilton Lacerda. http://tvescola.mec.gov.br/tve/video/mestres-da-literatura-jose-lins-do-rego- engenho-e-arte  O Engenho de Zé Lins (documentary, 2006). Produced and directed by Vladimir Carvalho. Awareded prize at Festival de Brasília 2006. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NftT5Mb10jk

The Brazilian Academy of letters held a centenary exhibition in 2001 - Mostra do centenário de José Lins do Rego. [organized by Stela Kaz]. Rio de Janeiro: ABL - Academia Brasileira de Letras, 2001.

There are translations of some of his works into German, Korean, Spanish, French, Italian, Romanian, Russian and Swedish. Only two novels have been translated into English so far: Pureza: A Brazilian Novel & Plantation Boy.

A museum dedicated to the author - Museu José Lins do Rego (FUNESC) was founded in in João Pessoa, Paraíba in 1985, a large site. The Museum holds 5 thousand items of the author and their website states that they digitalized his materials but, regrettably, no further details are available on their website. It is situated at Rua Abdias Gomes de Almeida 800.

Maria Christina Lins do Rego, one of his daughters, is also a writer 84) – an article on her book launch in 2014 is available at http://oglobo.globo.com/rio/bairros/filha-de-jose-lins-do-rego-lanca-livro-de-contos-de- ficcao-aos-81-anos-14818362#ixzz4fMn86h00

José Lins do Rego, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Cândido Portinari, José Olympio e Manuel Bandeira - (Photo: Acervo Portinari) Main works: Menino de engenho (1932), Doidinho (1933), Bangüê (1934). O Moleque Ricardo (1935), Usina (1936), Pureza (1937), Pedra bonita (1938), Riacho doce (1939), Água-mãe (1941), Fogo morto (1943), Eurídice (1947), Cangaceiros (1953), Estórias da Velha Totonia (1936), Meus Verdes Anos (1956).

Further details can be found at: http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa5630/jose-lins-do-rego

GOMES, Heloisa Toller The Presence of Cassandra: Women in Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!, and in José Lins do Rego’s “Fogo Morto”

OLIVEIRA, Iranilson Buriti de – O autor e a autoria: José Lins do Rego em cena. http://www.estacoesferroviarias.com.br/efcp_pe/pureza_historico.htm

Guia Geral das Estradas de Ferro do Brasil, 1960; Enciclopédia dos Municípios Brasileiros, IBGE, volume IV, 1958; Guias Levi, 1932-1982; Marco Benfont, 2007; Mapas: acervo R. M. Giesbrecht; Sydney Correa, 2009 NB. there are numerous articles and books written about a multiplicity of aspects of the oeuvre by José Lins do Rego both in Portuguese and in other languages. However, there is no better starting point that the original text.

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