Álvares de Azevedo
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Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo (September 12, 1831 – April 25, 1852) was a writer of Brazilian's romantic second generation, author of short stories, dramas, poetry and essays Brazilian, son of Inácio Manuel Álvares de Azevedo and Maria Luísa Mota Azevedo.
He was born in São Paulo, SP, but spent his childhood in Rio de Janeiro, where he initiated his studies. He returned to São Paulo in(1847) to study on Faculdade de Direito do Largo de São Francisco, which was actually part of the University of São Paulo, where, early on, he became famous for his brilliant and precocious literary productions. He was distinguished by his readiness of learning languages and for his young, sentimental spirit.
During his time at the university, he translated the fifth act of Othello by Shakespeare and translated Parisina by Lord Byron. In 1849, he went on to establish the magazine of the Sociedade Ensaio Filosófico Paulistano and he integrated the Sociedade Epicuréia. He once started an epic poem O Conde Lopo, which remains only in fragments.
He did not conclude his studies because he became ill with pulmonary tuberculosis. Alvares died in Rio de Janeiro, with much of his work incomplete at the young age of 21. His death is attributed to a stomachal inflammation. His works are: Poesias diversas (Diverse Poems), Poema do Frade (The Priest's Poem), the drama Macário, the romance O Livro de Fra Gondicário (Fra Gondicário's Book), Noite na Taverna (A Night at the Tavern), Cartas (Letters), many Assays (Literature and civilization in Portugal, Lucano, George Sand, Jacques Rolla), and his main work Lira dos vinte anos (at first planned to be published on a project - As Três Liras (The Three Lyres) - together with Aureliano Lessa and Bernardo Guimarães). He is a patron of the second chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
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[edit] Academic Criticism
Actually the author has instigated some academic studies, among which can be highlighted "O Belo e o Disforme", by Cilaine Alves Cunha (Ed. USP, 2000), and "Entusiasmo indianista e ironia byroniana" (Doctor Thesis, USP, 2000); "O poeta leitor. Um estudo das epígrafes ugoanas em Álvares de Azevedo", by Maria C. R. Alves (Master Dissertation, USP, 1999).
Azevedo's main influences are: Lord Byron, Chateaubriand, but mainly Alfred de Musset.
A characteristic aspect of his works, which has stimulated much discussion, speaks of his poetics, that he himself defined as "binomia" (bi-nomy) and consists of approximating extremes, on a typically romantic attitude. It is important to mention the preface for the second part of "Lira dos Vinte Anos", pointed out by many of his critics and in which he defines all of his poetics. He was the first to incorporate daily life in Brazilian poetry, with the poem "Idéias íntimas" (Intimate Ideas) in the second part of Lira. Included in the national anthologies of Brazil, his works were very famous until the two first decades of the 20th century, with consists of re-editations of his poetry and anthology. The last encenations of his drama "Macário" took place in 1994 and 2001.
[edit] Cronology
- 1831 September 12 - He was born in São Paulo at home near the intersection of Senador Feijó with Quintino Bocaiúva.
- 1831 - The family moves to Rio de Janeiro.
- 1835 - His youngest brother, Inácio Manuel, dies on June 26 in Niterói.
- 1840 - He matriculated at Stoll High School, in Botafogo. His performance receives compliments from the owner of the school, Dr. Stoll: "He has, what's very rare, a great innocence of customs to the greater intellectual capacity, that I have ever seen here or in America of a boy his age".
- 1844 - He transferred to São Paulo, after studying French, English and Latin. He returns to Rio at the end of the year.
- 1845 - He matriculated in the fifth year of his boarding school of the Imperial Colégio Pedro II in Rio. He performed poorly due which led him to create caricature of his classmates and teachers.
- 1846 - He finished his sixth year at the same school while being under Professor Domingos José Gonçalves de Magalhães.
- 1847 - On December 5th, he received the degree of Bachelor of Letters.
- 1848 - On March 1st, he enrolled at the Academia de Direito de São Paulo, he meets, among others, José de Alencar and Bernardo Guimarães.
- 1849 - He entered his second year and performed a speech on August 11 at the anniversary commemorative session of the creation of the juridical courses in Brazil. That same year he spent time vacationing in Rio with constant thoughts of death.
- 1850 - He wrote a romance of 200 and some pages, two poems (one of 5 and another of 2 cantos), essays, and fragments of a poem in a very old language (which has been lost to this day). On May 9th, he listened to the inaugural speech of the Ensaio Filosófico society. Once he returned to São Paulo, he matriculated for a third year at the Academy. In September of that year, a fifth-year student, Feliciano Coelho Duarte, commits suicide for love and on September 12th, Manuel produced a goodbye speech for him.
- 1851 - He entered his fourth year. On September 15th, João Batista da Silva Pereira dies. Manuel spent his vacation in Itaborai on his grandfather farm. He writes that he foresees his own death and says that he will not be able to return to São Paulo.
- 1852 April 25 - After having complications due to gastric inflammation and bleeding from falling from a horse, he died at 17:00 hours in Rio de Janeiro. He was buried the next day. Today, he is entombed at São João Batista Cemetery, grave #12A.
[edit] Works
- 1853 Poesias de Manuel António Álvares de Azevedo, Lira dos Vinte Anos (only book prepared for publication by the author) and Poesias diversas;
- 1855 Obras de Manuel António Álvares de Azevedo, first publication of his prose;
- 1862 Obras de Manuel António Álvares de Azevedo, second and third editions, first appearance of the "Poema do Frade" and the third part of the Lira.
- 1866 O Conde Lopo, unknown poem.
[edit] Reference Works
- BUENO, A. (Org.). Obra Completa de Álvares de Azevedo. Nova Aguilar, 2000.
- CAVALHEIRO, E. Álvares de Azevedo. Melhoramentos, 1943 (Biography)
- RAMOS, P.E.S.(Org.). Poesias Completas de Álvares de Azevedo. Ed. Unicamp, 2002.
