For today’s interactive feature, the question is: who is your favorite Brazilian author?
Even though most Americans and Europeans are most familiar with Latin American authors like Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende, Brazil has produced quite a few world class novelists, poets, and playwrights that have not received the international acclaim they deserve.
Though Paulo Coelho is Brazil’s best known author outside of Brazil, my favorite Brazilian author is Jorge Amado. I also love Machado de Assis, but I find Amado’s writing slightly less challenging to read, and I really feel like I am transported to another place and time. Bahia is one of my favorite parts of Brazil, and most of his work takes places there. He also really captures the soul of Brazil and manages to celebrate and decry the country’s accomplishments and challenges.
What about you?
Comments:
Teka:
Wow, that’s not an easy question! I’m working my way through the Hundred Best Stories of the Twentieth Century, and I wouldn’t know where to begin to choose a favorite writer.
For someone who should be MUCH better known outside Brazil than he is, how about Monteiro Lobato? He wrote wonderful children’s stories which were also the basis for the long-running Globo program, SÃtio do Picapau Amarelo. He was also a gifted artist.