Brazilian fiction, poetry and drama account for about half of the books published each year in Latin America. Literary development in Brazil roughly follows the country's main historical periods: the Colonial Period, from 1500 until independence in 1822, characterized mostly by writings in the Baroque and Arcadian styles; and the National Period since 1822.
Important literary movements during the National Period can be linked to the country's political and social development: The Romantic movement in literature coincided roughly with the 57 years of the Empire; the Parnassians and the Realists flourished during the early decades of the Republic, followed, around the turn of the century, by the Symbolists. In the 20th century, the ascendance of the Vanguardist or Modernist movement, with ideas of an avant-garde aestheticism, was celebrated during the famous São Paulo Week of Modern Art in 1922. This movement not only had a profound influence on Brazil's literature but also its painting, sculpture, music and architecture.
Many of the notable writers of the Colonial period were Jesuits who were fascinated by the new land and its native inhabitants.
The transfer of the Portuguese royal family to Brazil in 1808 brought with it the spirit of the incipient European Romantic movement. Brazilian writers began to emphasise individual freedom, subjectivism and a concern for social issues. Following Brazil's independence from Portugal, Romantic literature expanded to exalt the uniqueness of Brazil's tropics and its Indians, to express concern for the African slaves, and to describe urban life.
Machado de Assis (1839-1908), widely acclaimed as the greatest Brazilian writer of the 19th century, and one of the most important and influential writers of fiction in Brazilian history, was unique because of the universality of his novels and essays. His works encompassed both the Romantic style and Realism, as exemplified in Europe by Emile Zola and the Portuguese novelist Eça de Queiroz.
The beginning of the 20th century marked the start of a period in which there was a spirit of innovation among Brazilian artists, culminating in the celebration of the Week of Modern Art in São Paulo. This new way of thinking propelled an artistic revolution that appealed to a sense of pride in national folklore, history and ancestry. Participants in the Week of Modern Art performed experiments in writing and in fine arts which elsewhere were known as Futurism, Cubism and Dadaism. The poet Menotti del Pichia summarized the aims of the new artistic movement with these words: "We want light, air, ventilators, airplanes, workers' demands, idealism, motors, factory smokestacks, blood, speed, dream in our Art."
The most important leader of the literary wing of this movement was Mário de Andrade (1893-1945) who wrote poetry, essays on literature, art, music and Brazilian folklore, and Macunaíma, which he called "a rhapsody, not a novel". Oswald de Andrade (1890-1953) wrote a collection of poems entitled Pau-Brasil (Brazilwood), conveying Brazilian culture, superstitions and family life in simple, economical language which - for the first time in Brazilian poetry - included an important elemnt of humour.
The transition to a more spontaneous literary approach is represented by poets Carlos Drummond de Andrade (1902-1987) andManuel Bandeira (1886-1968). The former used irony to dissect the customs of the time, while Bandeira built language associations around proverbs and popular expressions. He alsowanted his last poem "to be eternal, saying the simplest and least intentional things."
The modern Brazilian novel took on a new shape and social content after José Américo de Almeida (1887-1969) wrote A Bagaceira, a story about the harsh conditions of life in the northeast of the country. Graciliano Ramos, whose books were also widely adapted to films and television, represented a generation of writers who used their prose as a weapon with which to attack social inequalities.
Jorge Amado's first novels, translated into 33 languages, were heavily influenced by his belief in Marxist ideas, concentrating on the sufferings of workers on the cocoa plantations of his home state of Bahia, and on humble fishermen in seaside villages. In the 1950's he opted for a more jovial approach, depicting the joys and sorrows of the Bahian middle classes.
Arguably the most innovative Brazilian writer of the twentieth century was João Guimarães Rosa (1908-1967). A career diplomat, he first captured the attention of the public and critics alike with a volume of short stories, Sagarana, soon followed by his best known work Grande Sertão: Veredas, translated into English as The Devil to Pay in the Backlands.
There are many other important Brazilian writers. Gilberto Freyre (1900-1987), a master of style and a pioneer of the new school of Brazilian sociologists, is the author of Casa Grange & Senzala (The Masters and The Slaves) a perceptive study of Brazilian society. One of the best-known Brazilian poets is João Cabral de Melo Neto (1918-). Special mention must be made of Vinicius de Moraes (1913-1980). His poetry became part and parcel of the bossa nova musical movement which gave the world a distinctive, gentle style of samba. Vinicius (in Brazil he is only ever referred to by his first name) also wrote a play, Orfeu da Conceição, which became internationally famous as the film Black Orpheus.
Florestan Fernandes (1920-1995), who ranks alongside Gilberto Freyre as one of the greatest Brazilian thinkers of the twentieth century, devoted his writings largely to an analysis of the main contradictions in Brazil's society and political system.
