Text above In English( basic editing only):
The most remarkable Brazilian fiction books of the last decade
Twenty critics, journalists and cultural managers indicate the national books - novels, short stories, poems - that marked their readings in the last ten years
FD
Flavia Denise de Magellan - Special for MS
JR
Joao Renato Faria
16/04/2021 04:00 - updated 24/09/2021 09:31
Define what is most interesting, remarkable and significant was produced in the
brazilian literature in the last decade it has been a difficult task. After all, after all, it is impossible to read all the production of a country over such an extensive and diverse period as the last 10 years in Brazil – for good and for evil. To make a mapping of what has been produced of more remarkable in fiction in the last decade in the country, the
Thought contacted 20 – people among them, teachers, cultural producers and critics, who are dedicated to the reading and analysis of contemporary national production.
They were asked to produce
lists according to their personal preferences, without necessarily ranking the selected titles. The term “best” was avoided, precisely because of the subjectivity of the proposed selection. They also did not have to justify their choices, although several chose to do so.
Ten men and 10 women from Minas Gerais and other Brazilian states listed 10 books of
fiction, between
novels, short stories and poetry published in the country between 2010 and 2020. Reprints and reissues were left out, as well as the whole universe of non-fiction (essays, reports, biographies). The result is a selection governed by diversity.
There were 129 citations, from independent productions to best sellers. Among the five most remembered, three books were written by women and three are by black authors. Starting with the champion of citations, “Torto arado”, which entered 11 of the 20 lists. “Surprises by the strength of the characters and the beauty of the story”, said Simone Pessoa, bookseller at Livraria Ouvidor. The literary critic Jose Castello compared the novel of Baiano
Itamar Vieira Junior, which has sold more than a hundred thousand copies , to the work of giants of the letters of the 20th century. “Retakes the – tradition today repressed, not to say renegade – of the great Brazilian realists, such as Graciliano Ramos, Jorge Amado and Ze Lins of Rego”, highlights the author of the biography of Vinicius de Moraes.
Read an excerpt from "Torto Arado" by Itamar Vieira Junior
With her “The book of similarities”, the poet Ana Martins Marques from Minas Gerais was remembered in eight lists. “The precariousness of the word, the intrinsic impossibility of names, is the main theme of this extraordinary book of poems, in which the unbridgeable gulf between words and things, words and images resurfaces”, said Guiomar de Grammont, general coordinator of the Forum of Letters. “It is noticeable the way in which the quality of each poem itself is amplified and articulated in the intelligent and sensitive structuring of the book as a whole”, completed Professor Andrea Soares Santos, from the department of Language and Technology of Cefet-MG.
Dead in 2017, Elvira Vigna did not have time to see the highlight given to her “As if we were in a palimpsest of whores”, indicated by six guests. “My favorite book of the decade. A masterpiece that, in Vigna's sharp phrases, gets even better”, justified critic Mateus Baldi. “Olhos d'Água’”, by Conceicao Evaristo, ranked in five lists. “Without any
idealizations , here are recreated with firmness and talent the harsh conditions faced by the afro-Brazilian community”, said Etiene Martins, Bantu bookstore, specializing in works by black authors.
Paulo Scott's “Brown and yellow” also earned five mentions. “Brings another perspective to the debate, mainly of what it is to be black in a racist country, although of black majority. An
extremely necessary book”, pointed out the Pernambuco critic Ney Anderson, from the blog “Creative anguish”.
Like all artistic production, literature has not passed unscathed by the numerous changes of the last 10 years of the country. Deep political and economic crises have left their mark on the work of writers, who have not shied away from addressing issues such as slave labor, quotas, racism, misogyny, sexism, climate crisis and authoritarianism. The rise of self-publishing was also present: four of the books listed were funded by the authors themselves.
It is also important to note that the works remembered are part of the last wave of fictional production before the pandemic of the new coronavirus. In addition to good literature, the selected works that also serve as a kind of subjective mapping of the country
we leave backwards. Certainly, the thousands of deaths, isolation and other changes caused by COVID-19 will leave their marks on the literary production of the decade that begins under the sign of helplessness and mourning.
Sadly I myself read only
Torto Arado.
librotea.com
