Saturday, January 06, 2007

50 years of Grande Sertão: Veredas

Brazilians have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of a special book: Newspapers have published reports and articles, academies have organized conferences and debates, news shows have broadcasted stories, museums have offered exhibitions, new editions were printed. This could be routine in other countries, but, unfortunately, reading is not a Brazilian's habit. Shame on us.

The book that Brazilians are celebrating is a singular one. It radically divides opinions. Some readers love it and spend their lives reading it again and again; others can not pass the 50th page. They give up saying that the author's style is too difficult to grasp.

It is a novel, Grande Sertão: Veredas written by a diplomat, Joao Guimaraes Rosa. He spoke eight languages, but chose to write in a peculiar and inventive way. The book has been translated into many languages. Its English title is "The Devil to Pay in the Backlands".

The novel is a tragic love story that ends in an astonishing way. It unites Riobaldo and Diadorim, two gunmen in a raging war against rival bands. The author creates a new language, using unknown words that readers magically understand.
Read More

Please visit SPLALit aStore

No comments:

Post a Comment