Book review de Quincas Bérro D'água

Resolvi fazer um post bem rápido para compartilhar uma coisa legal que vi hoje; estava morfando no Twitter quando vi um post da Penguin Classics (@PenguinClassics):

 

Achei interessante e cliquei no link.

Fui parar no site Shelf Awareness e fiquei feliz por ver não um, mais dois posts falando das obras — A morte e a morte de Quincas Bérro D'água e A descoberta da américa pelos turcos —  do famoso escritor brasileiro Jorge Amado.

Vou copiar as máterias aqui no blog, mas você pode conferir na íntegra nesse link.

The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray

by Jorge Amado , trans. by Gregory Rabassa 

How can a man die more than once? In Gregory Rabassa's new translation of the short comic masterpiece The Double Death of Quincas Water-Bray, beloved Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado shows how.

The notorious scalawag Quincas Water-Bray was once an exemplary employee of the State Bureau of Revenue, but since retiring 10 years ago, though, he's been a shameless drunkard and gambler--the most thoroughgoing vagabond in Bahia. He dies with a smile of mockery on his face--and well he might, since his death is about to launch a party, a brawl and a sea catastrophe. To his family, he's an embarrassment, but to his friends, the people of the street, the loss of Quincas is a blow.

When his fickle family members go home to get some sleep, they entrust Quincas's body to his drinking buddies, who decide to honor their departed friend with a more appropriate send-off. No food? No flowers? No booze? They're quick to correct the situation--and then some.

As one darkly hilarious sequence escalates into another and yet another, upping the stakes deliriously, the drunk friends decide to take their dead buddy out for one last night on the town beneath the magic Bahia moon. It's a romp at the expense of death, but Amado never trivializes mortality even while delighting in the shenanigans of his colorful cast of lowlifes. With brilliant sleight of hand and deceptive simplicity, Amado's defiance of death in this frothy, heartfelt tale reveals the Brazilian master at his earthy, big-hearted best. --Nick DiMartino, Nick's Picks, University Book Store, Seattle

Discover: A comic novella by Brazilian master Jorge Amado about a dead scalawag whose drinking buddies get a little carried away at his funeral.

 

 

 

The Discovery of America by the Turks

by Jorge Amado , trans. by Gregory Rabassa

A new English-language translation by Gregory Rabassa of the delightfully titled novella The Discovery of America by the Turks by beloved Brazilian novelist Jorge Amado is cause for rejoicing.

In 1903, Jamil, a young Syrian in his 20s, and Raduan, an older Lebanese man, forge a friendship like brothers, braving the long journey to South America together. Jamil settles in a Brazilian village amid the plantations; Raduan, a charmer in his 50s, in the bigger city nearby, which Jamil visits monthly.

Raduan's old backgammon friend, Ibrahim Jafet, needs help. His wife, who used to run their prosperous dry-goods business, has unexpectedly died and his eldest daughter, Adma, has turned into a frustrated virgin spinster who rules his house with an iron fist. At first, Raduan sets up an ambitious, opportunistic young waiter to marry Adma and run the struggling shop. It sounds like the perfect plan. But then Jamil arrives in town, and Raduan--a gambler who loves "the game of destiny... in which the cards are human beings and the bets are for life itself"--realizes that whoever marries the virtuous but tyrannical Adma will have all his financial problems solved.

Amado's irresistible human palette, like Brazil itself, contains every color, race and ethnicity, from ultra-rich plantation owners to the wretches who labor in the fields. Even in a work as short and condensed as this, there are more than 40 named characters, most of whom Amado brings to life with just a few short strokes. The ending is delightful, unexpected and thoroughly satisfying. --Nick DiMartino, Nick's Picks, University Book Store, Seattle

Discover: A comic novella about two Arab friends who come to South America and a Brazilian virgin virago who needs a husband.

 

 

 

Eu sei que nem todos leem em inglês, mas é bom ver a literatura brasileira sendo valorizada internacionalmente! Quantos brasileiros já leram essas obras?

Confesso que só li a primeira e gostei muito.

Logo após o tweet que mencionei acima, veio esse:

O link nos direciona à uma página sobre um evento internacional do centenário de Jorge Amado em NY. Quantos brasileiros sabem que existe uma comemoração sobre isso?
 

Espero que vocês tenham gostado da novidade!