Macunaíma is a work that was published in the year 1928 by writer Mario Andrade, it is considered one of the main novels of the modernist line. The work is a kind of Rhapsody of the formation of Brazil, that is, rhapsody are special or even classic characteristics of a fragment of a certain poem, Mario de Andrade explains which took some time to deepen the research of indigenous and folkloric legends and myths, using a popular and oral language from various regions of Brazil, so it is considered Rhapsody. In this context, there are several national elements that go together with a narrative of a Hero without any character.
The work is considered a true renewal of the Brazilian literary language, in addition to being one of the works of main renewal of the country's culture. Mario de Andrade seeks to retake indigenous and folkloric views of our great Amazon, the author says that he wrote Macunaíma in just 6 days in the comfort of a Sapucaí farm, in Araraquara-SP, he says that the book is nothing more than an anthology of Brazilian folklore, which seeks to base itself on the portrayal of the hero's people without character.
Let's get to know a little more about this fantastic work?
Index
The work is divided into 11 chapters:
Storyteller: A book based on contemporary literary criticism, seeks to highlight the difference between the author and the narrator of the story, the difference can be rethought when the narrator only appears in the last chapter, that is, in the epilogue, in this final part of the narrative, the narrator tells that the whole story was transmitted, told by a parrot, that's right, the narrator says that the Parrot listened to the whole story of Macunaíma himself, the bird then transmitted all the facts to a man, and flew to Lisbon: “And the man is me, my people, and I stayed to tell you the story". In this part, the approach of the author is clear, that is, Mario Andrade.
Time and space: The time and space in the work itself are not properly defined, that is, it is a mystical narrative, the basis is reality. It is nice to note that the space that can be considered in the book is the Brazilian geographic space, with small mentions of the outside, the chronological time is indefinite in every work.
Macunaíma: The character is considered the main one in the written work, he portrays very interesting adjectives, such as: Individualist, lazy, vain, liar, and he doesn't care about anyone around him, that is, he only thinks about himself, and doesn't live without the pleasures fleshly. He is a true hero without character, he is the very representation of the formation of Brazil, his choices during the narrative provide many surprises. The same with indigenous and black characteristics bathes in the puddle of the Sumé giant's foot, and transforms into a European with blond hair and white skin.
Jiguê: He is a middle brother, all the women he was interested in were related to his brother Macunaíma, a man with characteristics of big build, strong, and with a profile of bravery, he beat women when he found out about betrayals, rarely beat his brother. Jiguê also tried to wash himself in the magic water, but as the water was low, his skin turned coppery.
Mahanape: In the work he is represented as Macunaíma's older brother, he was considered a sorcerer, very intelligent, he spends almost the entire narrative taking care of his brother, he is a representative of the black people. Manaape also tries to bathe in Sumé's waters, but only a little water is left, his palms and hands white
Wenceslau Pietro Pietra: A character who lives in São Paulo, a wealthy Peruvian farmer, he has something that Macunaíma wants to recover, muraiquitã. It is a giant people-eating Piaimã.
Ceiuci: She is Giant's wife, also a man-eater.
Ci: She is the mother of the forest, the only true love of Macunaíma, during the relationship she became pregnant with the character, unfortunately the child did not survive, Ci from so much grief ends up turning into a star in the sky. It was the same woman who gave the so precious muraiquitã to Macunaíma.
man: In the work he has two daughters and wants Macunaíma to marry one of them.
The narrative begins by focusing on the character Macunaíma, who was born on the banks of the water of the Uraricoera in the Amazon Forest, already in this At the time of the work, the writer highlights his main characteristic, laziness, in addition to being lazy, had strong traits of a temper and bossy.
Macunaíma spends her entire childhood being raised in an Amazonian tribe, with her strong desire to become an adult, Macunaíma takes a bath in wild manioc, she had the power to turning him into an adult man, for some time, he meets Ci, a woman who has fallen madly in love, with this passion, Ci ends up getting pregnant from Macunaíma, unfortunately the child came to die shortly after birth, with so much grief at the loss, the woman ends up becoming a star, leaving Macunaíma with a single memory, a kind of amulet, called a muiraquitã.
It is through this amulet that the story begins to create movement and action, Macunaíma loved this memory, but unfortunately lost it along the way, and discovers that muiraquitã was in the possession of Venceslau Pietro Pietra, in SP, the famous people-eating giant.
Disillusioned Macunaíma decides to travel to São Paulo and retrieve the so precious amulet, his two brothers were with him on the trip. finally Macunaíma manages to recover muiraquitã, but the happiness was short-lived, the character loses the amulet again, with great disgust, Macunaíma also rises to the skies and becomes a star.
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Brilliant writer Mario Andrade during his thoughts and writings wanted to produce a work that actually represents Brazil, this representation in unity, this unity are the multiple existing characteristics of nationality, creating a unique scenario for the Brazilian culture.
His great knowledge for the entire creation of the work was through numerous researches carried out on the national folklore and foundation in modernist literary production, so that the first writings of Macunaíma.
Macunaíma is considered a true Rhapsody, that is, a great junction of legends, myths, habits, foods, fauna traditions, Brazilian flora, you say, finally, the great intelligence of the writer was to bring all these characteristics together in a work of narrative cohesive.
It is important to point out that even using modernist characteristics in his work, Mario escapes from some peculiarities of the literary movement, the space does not it penetrates a lot in what we call the verisimilitude of hitherto realistic novels, that is, the space in the work is not measured by distance, but by Characteristics of the characters, as shown in an excerpt from the book, Macunaíma in a fugue was present in Manaus and after a few paragraphs it was already there. in Argentine.
The verisimilitude has a surrealist character, this characteristic can be seen when the brothers bathe in a water that has the power to whiten, the moment reveals the meaning of symbol of the three ethnic groups that had responsibility for the formation of Brazil: The White, this coming from Europe, the black, coming as a slave from Africa, and finally the Indian Native. In this representation we can see important facts in the three brothers, Macunaíma is the first to bathe, becoming blonde, the second brother turns bronze, while the third only whitens the palms and feet, representing the black.
The Romance is a collage of elements that allows for the exposure of national culture, with a mixture of indigenous legends, languages of mixtures of terms, such as regional and even foreign, all these characteristics were made to be closer to the formation of culture. Brazilian.
Macunaíma can be considered a work of great complexity, the main objective is to reveal a creation of a national culture, and transmit the challenges of a people that slowly begins to identify itself as a nation, a nation that is large in terms of territory and with countless external influences, and not only that, the book is a demonstration of the Brazilian character given the characteristics of the first modernist phase, a possible perception is that the Brazilian people do not have a defined character, that is, Brazil is a large country in the body of Macunaíma.
Macunaíma did not only remain in the books, the work was adapted to the cinema in 1969 directed by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, the film is considered a pioneer of the then movement of Cinema Novo, the film is a true essence of the work written by Mario Andrade.
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