José Martiniano de Alencar

Background

José Martiniano de Alencar was born May 1, 1829, in Mecejana, Ceará, of an old colonial family.

Education

He studied, taught law, and later entered upon a political career that culminated in a post in the Imperial Cabinet (1868).

Career

Although he attained prominence as a statesman, a journalist, and a dramatist, it is in his work as a novelist that his fame rests. An outstanding figure in Brazilian romanticism, he is mainly responsible for the coming of age of a native Brazilian literature, developing the novel as Gonçalves Dias had started to develop poetry. He sought his fictional material in the Indian past of his country. Gifted with a lyrical temperament, a powerful imagination, and a belligerent patriotism, he decided to promote a national literature and even went so far as to maintain the necessity of a Brazilian tongue freed from the prejudices of metropolitan purism and traditional Portuguese grammar. Though he was strongly influenced by Chateaubriand and James Fenimore Cooper, he was not a servile imitator of these authors. In his novels O Guaraní(1857; "The Guarani"), Iracema (1865), and Ubirajara (1875) the aborigines are a trifle more refined than reality would dictate, but the majestic descriptions of nature, the charming simplicity of plot, and the richness and lucidity of style more than compensate for this slight idealization. None of Alencar's compatriots understood and rendered as well the magnitude of the natural panorama, the mystery of myth and legend, and the violent contrasts of languor and human passion in a tropical climate. Alencar sketched many additional themes in his thirty-odd novels. Historical material appears in A Guerra dos Mascates (1877) ("The War of the Mascates"), regional in O Gaúcho (1870) ("The Gaucho"), and social in O Tronco de IpêIpe ("The IpêIpe Trunk"), but these were less successful than the novels treating Indian subject matter. Alencar died Dec. 12, 1877, in Rio de Janeiro.

Works

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  • Obras Completas de José de Alencar I: Romances Indianistas ("O Guarani", "Iracema" e "Ubirajara") (Edição Definitiva) (Portuguese Edition)

    (No primeiro volume das Obras Completas de José de Alencar...)

  • Ubirajara: por José de Alencar (Portuguese Edition)

    (Nesta edição você tem a sua disposição “Ubirajara”, roman...)

  • Romances Completos de José de Alencar: "Senhora", "Lucíola", "O Guarani" e mais 15 obras (Portuguese Edition)

    (No segundo volume da coleção “Clássicos Completos” o leit...)

  • As Minas de Prata

    (José Martiniano de Alencar was a Brazilian lawyer, politi...)

  • Iracema (Portuguese Edition)
  • Senhora - Clássicos de José de Alencar (Portuguese Edition)