tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post7546504437132299571..comments2024-01-02T15:37:04.858-05:00Comments on Caravana de recuerdos: The Contemporary Brazilian NovelRichardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-60710889584740822172013-06-20T20:06:41.123-04:002013-06-20T20:06:41.123-04:00Yeah, in 1990 two governments decided to unify the...Yeah, in 1990 two governments decided to unify the spelling in Portuguese-speaking countries. The main instigator was Brazil, although Portugal played the role of obsequious servant very well. For decades no one thought of that; then in 2011 the governments ratified the agreements and everyone sort of woke up from their inertia and started opposing it. I think most people just thought the agreement would fall through, and then suddenly here it was, with 2015 as the deadline to fully implement it.<br /><br />It's horrible. Reading newspapers and translations, or watching TV or going to the movies, has become a nightmare. I'm mentally correcting words every two lines. I've reached the point I no longer know Portuguese, the words seem alien to me. Now before I buy a book in Portuguese I always make sure to check if it was written before 2011, for it's safe, or if it belongs to a publisher that bravely continues to resist the agreement. Nothing brave about it, really, it's not like the government can legally persecute them, but it's sad to see so many publishers adopting the new spelling just, I don't know, to ingratiate themselves with the rulers... So people like me oppose it, hoping we can still turn the tide. In 1986 a similar agreement was repelled, this one is putting up a better fight, but I still think we have good chances.LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-5091088557413285372013-06-20T13:01:08.885-04:002013-06-20T13:01:08.885-04:00The two Quiroga translations I know of are "g...The two Quiroga translations I know of are "greatest hits" style composites. Wish publishers wouldn't do that so often, but I guess it's better than the alternative: nothing. Of course, nothing may be > Lispector!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-59811556034511202922013-06-20T12:58:55.075-04:002013-06-20T12:58:55.075-04:00Miguel, that's all news to me--sounds like a m...Miguel, that's all news to me--sounds like a multi-country headache all right!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-54045309309548031482013-06-20T12:57:37.574-04:002013-06-20T12:57:37.574-04:00I would think that Quiroga would be a piece of cak...I would think that Quiroga would be a piece of cake after your Torrente Ballester experience. His prose isn't very complicated, but there's a subtlety to his best stories that I really enjoy--plus lots of intrigue, of course!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-34120274678075688512013-06-19T18:31:25.603-04:002013-06-19T18:31:25.603-04:00Oh trust me, right now, thanks to an ortographical...Oh trust me, right now, thanks to an ortographical agreement that no one asked for and that the Brazilian and Portuguese governments stubbornly want to impose on their citizens, we have enough problems without bringing the Galicians into the mix, although they're on the fringes of the polemics too.LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-47488198606302466372013-06-19T18:24:37.722-04:002013-06-19T18:24:37.722-04:00Ha ha, that's great news. I've been thinki...Ha ha, that's great news. I've been thinking of reading Quiroga in Spanish, since unfortunately the translations into Portuguese stopped coming years ago.LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-5168789223340580542013-06-18T15:37:55.684-04:002013-06-18T15:37:55.684-04:00I have The Exiles and Other Stories, which appears...I have The Exiles and Other Stories, which appears to be a composite collection drawn from a few Quiroga works.<br /><br />I think we can all agree Lispector is awful (apart from those of us who disagree).obookihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03885121629202810216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-68644599741505075962013-06-18T02:06:10.934-04:002013-06-18T02:06:10.934-04:00Miguel, we need to add medieval Galician-Portugues...Miguel, we need to add medieval Galician-Portuguese and modern day <em>galego</em> to the mix so we can have all the problematic relationships at hand in one place.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-67253991953350903342013-06-18T01:58:54.197-04:002013-06-18T01:58:54.197-04:00Obooki has joined you in the potentially intereste...Obooki has joined you in the potentially interested camp. A Quiroga post is virtually unavoidable now whether anybody else is interested or not--i.e. this topic is closed to further discussion!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-62225099120590928182013-06-18T01:55:20.837-04:002013-06-18T01:55:20.837-04:00I should finish Ramos' Vidas secas sometime to...I should finish Ramos' <em>Vidas secas</em> sometime tomorrow, Obooki, but in the meantime I've heard nothing but good things about that memoir of his you mention. Quite a find that! My pre-JGR Brazilian reading was largely limited to Machado de Assis and Euclides da Cunha, both of whom I think are great, and Clarice Lispector, who I thought was awful, so I have a lot of catching up to do all of a sudden now that my interest in the lit of the country has finally been awakened. I'm of course envious that you've already read <em>Macunaíama</em>, which I hope to evaluate for myself one day. Alas I'm embarrassed to admit that I've yet to watch a Glauber Rocha film in its entirety (saw part of one once in a class presentation), but part of the problem is that those films haven't been easy to come by on DVD where I live or at least not whenever I remembered to look for them. Would really like to see <em>Black God, White Devil</em> someday, though, especially since a guy at a local coffeeshop keeps bringing it up with me. Which Quiroga did you buy? I've been meaning to try and translate one of his stories for the blog, but I keep putting it off even though I think it's a fantastic story. Anyway, I'll keep you and Miguel in mind when I finish the bio: two potential readers worldwide might almost make an English post on Quiroga worthwhile, you know?!?Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-84727389409478031622013-06-18T01:35:38.749-04:002013-06-18T01:35:38.749-04:00Thanks for following along, Tom. As far as the to...Thanks for following along, Tom. As far as the topic you bring up here, it's my understanding that in the U.S. at least, the problem you touch on is longstanding and at least partially due to how PhD language and literature programs traditionally taught the Romance languages as largely a specialized rather than an interdisciplinary (or at least multi-language) affair (i.e. outside of Latin American studies programs, which often offered an M.A. as a terminal degree anyway). I have the sense that people who wanted to focus on more than one language in depth used to be discouraged from doing that or encouraged to join a Comp Lit program instead of a single language program. Things have changed of late, though, as evidenced by the fact that something as esteemed as <em>The Cambridge History of Latin American Literature</em> now includes an entire volume dedicated to Brazilian literature in its three-volume 1996 set. I'd be interested in hearing more about this if you discover anything, but a few of the Spanish-language critics I've read lately have indicated that the "complication" you mention did in fact exist not all that long ago.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-77880153777143025022013-06-18T01:09:59.724-04:002013-06-18T01:09:59.724-04:00Scott, I'm glad the critical perspectives have...Scott, I'm glad the critical perspectives have proved useful for you just because but also because that makes me feel I probably didn't sabotage anybody's essay too badly. I could probably do a post a week for the rest of the year on the Spanish-language reaction to JGR and <em>GS:V</em> alone, but since I'm not quite that crazy, I might settle for the only slightly less nutty idea of maintaining an ongoing resource page with links to bibliographical data (annotated and otherwise) in various languages. That might be the only thing missing from Felipe's <em>A Missing Book</em> blog. In any event, how interesting to hear about the YouTube adaption: wasn't the opening scene's reference to a cow that had the face of a dog attention-grabbing enough?Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-54549845930313627982013-06-17T21:12:36.178-04:002013-06-17T21:12:36.178-04:00Jill Miguel Rise Scott, the timing of the post was...Jill Miguel Rise Scott, the timing of the post was ironic but only because I couldn't put it to bed in time for a Saturday posting (no editing willpower as I mentioned above). However, I did buy Joyce's <em>Dubliners</em> not too long ago for my upcoming short story project so maybe it's just hard to avoid connecting with the guy in one fashion or another. On the use of the term Boom among Spanish speakers, it's kind of ironic it even caught on the first place since it's not even a palabra in Spanish itself. Go figure. P.S. What Rise said!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-74258307055838707662013-06-17T21:01:52.751-04:002013-06-17T21:01:52.751-04:00Rise, thanks, "the Boom" is kind of like...Rise, thanks, "the Boom" is kind of like "literary fiction" as a description in that everybody thinks/says/maybe is even willing to debate that they know what it means but doesn't want to admit that it's really just a marketing term. At least I've never seen anybody categorize books on their blogs as "genre: the Boom," though, like so many do with literary fiction. Bah! I was actually rereading one of your older Guimarães Rosa posts the other day and saw that Emir Rodríguez Monegal's name came up in one of them. What a pleasant surprise/coincidence--thanks for the tip on the preface. I'll try to hunt that down one of these days.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-594201010033766862013-06-17T20:10:54.410-04:002013-06-17T20:10:54.410-04:00I've come across Graciliano Ramos before on an...I've come across Graciliano Ramos before on another road-map; I have a book of his called Childhood (Infancia) which I keep meaning to read; and Limo-Barreto's The Patriot (Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma); and have read Macunaima (I suppose it is a "beautiful failure", but good fun) - and some other Brazilian books (including a history). I had this idea of reading them all in time for the World Cup (though I'm not entirely sure what my point was).<br /><br />Would be interested in Quiroga too: after years of trying, I finally bought a reasonably cheap collection of short stories by him recently.<br /><br />Must get on with Guimarães Rosa.<br /><br />Have you ever seen any films by Glauber Rocha? They're set on the sertao, in a similar kind of world, though now I think of it I'm not entirely sure I'd recommend them, unless you like cowboy films full of mystical drivel.obookihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03885121629202810216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-58603518409271949582013-06-17T19:03:45.281-04:002013-06-17T19:03:45.281-04:00Quiroga will have appeal to those who like Quiroga...Quiroga will have appeal to those who like Quiroga, so you have one reader at least ;)LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-33634884153036144182013-06-17T19:02:27.069-04:002013-06-17T19:02:27.069-04:00The relationship between Portuguese and Brazilian ...The relationship between Portuguese and Brazilian literature is problematic, and they're the same language!LMRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08538873868140070018noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-65216282350476980412013-06-17T14:41:35.147-04:002013-06-17T14:41:35.147-04:00Well, I have been reading along, too.
This has to...Well, I have been reading along, too.<br /><br />This has to be a continuing issue or problem, why not call it a problem, the relation between Brazilian and Spanish-language South American fiction. The relation between the literatures of Latin America and Spain is a a complex enough topic - introducing another language is a big complication.<br /><br />I will have to see for myself some day.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-34954310613728083922013-06-17T14:28:23.192-04:002013-06-17T14:28:23.192-04:00Brian, "W," love it! By the way, thanks...Brian, "W," love it! By the way, thanks for following the sequence of posts on Guimarães Rosa here and on the other blogs. It's really too bad you couldn't find a copy of the book because you've been like an honory group read participant with all your much appreciated feedback. Cheers!Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-12304125170602382302013-06-17T14:24:45.946-04:002013-06-17T14:24:45.946-04:00Miguel, I for some reason thought that you just di...Miguel, I for some reason thought that you just didn't like the novel--didn't know that you couldn't stand it! Anyway, thanks for hanging around for the related posts and for encouraging me to write about the Quiroga bio when I finish it (I suspect that Quiroga might have even less appeal as a blogging subject than Guimarães Rosa from an English-language reader's perspective, but it's hard to predict these things with any certainty). It's a really, really satisfying piece of work as biography and criticism, though.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-83736754667252769932013-06-17T14:16:20.063-04:002013-06-17T14:16:20.063-04:00Tony, I don't blame you for not having read ev...Tony, I don't blame you for not having read every word--see how verbose I get when I give my editing interns the weekend off! Thanks for the visit anyway, of course.Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01746599416342846897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-77452178701871512422013-06-17T13:32:03.644-04:002013-06-17T13:32:03.644-04:00Richard - It's great to have the critical pers...Richard - It's great to have the critical perspective on GS:V that you've been bringing in, since it's all but non-existent in English so far as I can tell. In particular it's illuminating to have the novel put in its Brazilian (and Latin American) context. So much of reading GS:V without that was like interpreting shadows on the wall of a cave. <br /><br />Regarding the theme of diabolical possession, I took 15 minutes to watch excerpts on YouTube from the first episode of the Brazilian mini-series of GS:V (there are 25 episodes of 40 minutes each - I'm not about to watch them all), and was puzzled to see, in the first minutes, an episode I don't recall from the book: an exorcism. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-19274100735006742142013-06-16T11:47:35.912-04:002013-06-16T11:47:35.912-04:00Ka-bloom! ... what a timely event. haha.Ka-bloom! ... what a timely event. haha.Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-62442700993989050092013-06-16T11:31:51.836-04:002013-06-16T11:31:51.836-04:00First of all I'd like to know why Boom novels ...First of all I'd like to know why Boom novels aren't called Bloom novels, which seems much more descriptive, especially since you posted this TODAY, which is Bloomsday, and since, allegedly, Boom writers were influenced by Joyce, so it could be all double-entendre-y and all. (....this comment being, as you pointed out, appropriate for the letter f.)<br /><br />Yours truly,<br />Miguel Rise Scott <br />Bloom not Boom Boosterrhapsodyinbookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07041412748239010264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1911087927983597831.post-17158220120329421872013-06-16T11:12:40.527-04:002013-06-16T11:12:40.527-04:00Great early commentary on the novel. You've be...Great early commentary on the novel. You've been unearthing some good critiques here. And I like how the Boom question was finally resolved at the end! <br /><br />I'm also reminded by your post of what Rodríguez Monegal wrote as preface to a translated excerpt from <i>GS: V</i> in <i>The Borzoi Anthology of Latin American Literature</i> (1977, vol. 2, pp. 676-79). I just re-read the preface and I highly recommend it, down to the last hyperbolic sentence.Risehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17446964640160585194noreply@blogger.com