Project Description
Vidas secasGraciliano Ramos
(1892 – 1953)
Brazil
Graciliano Ramos was born in Brazil in 1892. He started to work as a journalist for various magazines and newspapers in 1904, assuming different pseudonyms. In 1933 he published his first novel, CAETÉS. The author received several prizes, including the Brazilian National Prize for Children’s Literature for A TERRA DOS MENINOS PELADOS (“The Earth of the Naked Boys”) and the Felipe de Oliveira Prize for his complete works. His most important novel, VIDAS SECAS (“Barren Lives”), was awarded the prize of the William Faulkner Foundation and made into a movie, which received two awards of its own. In his novel MEMÓRIAS DO CÁRCERE (“Memories of Prison”), which was published posthumously, he describes his years in prison under Vargas’ dictatorship. Graciliano Ramos is considered a classic among Brazilian contemporary authors.
© Graciliano Ramos//
Vidas secas
In Vidas secas (“Barren Lives“), a classic in Brazilian literature, Graciliano Ramos describes the life of a peasant family from the northeast of Brazil moving from place to place in order to escape a drought, enduring hardships while still dreaming of a better life. Written in austere but captivating prose, the reader is immediately drawn into this cyclical story, envisaging the torrid landscape under a merciless sun and feeling with these outstanding characters whom life has treated so badly.
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Angústia
Angústia (“Anguish”) tells the story of Luis da Silva. Plagued by a sense of inferiority and obsessive destructive fantasies and after an agonizing inner journey, he commits a murder. After an emotional breakdown, Luis da Silva starts evoking different stages of his life, his unhappy childhood on his father’s deteriorated estate, episodes of near starvation, the depressing routine of an unknown journalist. Mingling the past with the present, which is hardly more positive, forever on the lookout for odd jobs, Luis’ mind grows more and more disturbed.
When he meets his neighbour, the beautiful Marina, Luis immediately falls in love with her. He starts dreaming of a better future that might bring some kind of sense into his life, but, impoverished as he is, he cannot offer Marina what she is looking for – money and luxury. Marina turns to the wealthy Julião, and Luis, already depressed, starts to give free reins to his ever-increasing jealousy and hatred. Envious of Julião’s money, his desire for revenge and destruction increases. When Marina falls pregnant, Luis is finally driven over the edge and kills Julião.
In this masterpiece, Graciliano Ramos once again enchants the reader with his precise and dry prose, which only emphasises the starkness of his characters and their surroundings. With great expressive force, he gives testimony to the socially and psychologically refined relationships of his protagonists and their inner developments, which are characteristic of all his novels.
RIGHTS
ORIGINAL EDITIONS AND RIGHTS SOLD (SELECTION)
NOVELS
Caetés
Brazil: 1933, Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 304 p.
Portugal: Portugália Editora 1965, Europa-América 1984, Caminho 1990, 195 p.
São Bernardo
Brazil: 1934, Rio de Janeiro: Record 2002 (last edition: 2009), 272 p.
Finland: Porvoo 1992, Söderström 1961 · France: Gallimard 1936, 1986, 2015 · Germany: Fischer 1961, Hanser 1960 (rights available) · Hungary: Europa 1962 · Italy: Bollatti Boringhieri 1993 · Netherlands: Copperns & Frenks, 1996 · Peru: Colmena · Polen: Wydaw 1985 · Portugal: Publicações Europa-América 1983, Caminhos 1991 · UK: Peter Owen 1975 · Uruguay: Banda Oriental 2007 · US: New York Review of Books · Venezuela: Monte Avila Editores 1980
Angústia
Brazil: 1936, Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 240 p., São Paulo: Todavia (forthcoming 2024)
France: Gallimard 1992 · Germany: Suhrkamp 1978, 1994 (rights available) · Italy: Fratelli Bocca 1954 · Mexico: Páramo 2008 · Netherlands: Copperns & Frenks, 1995 · Portugal: Portugália Editora 1962, Europa-América 1984, Caminho 1991 · Spain: Alfaguara 1978 · Uruguay: Independencia 1944, Banda Oriental 2013 · US: A.A. Knopf 1946, Greenwood Press 1972
Vidas secas
Brazil: 1938, Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 176 p.
Argentina: Editora Capricornio 1958, Corregidor 2001 · Belgium: Novib’s-Gravenhage/NCOS 1981 · Bulgaria: Cyx Knbot 1969 · Cuba: Casa de las Américas 1964 · Czech Republic: Statni Nakladatelstvi, Krásné Literatury 1959, Jubdy a Umêni · Denmark: Tørke 1986 · France: Gallimard 1964, Chandeigne 2014 · Germany: Horst Erdmann 1965, Suhrkamp 1981 (rights available), Wagenbach 2013 · Greece: Electra · Hungary: Europa Könyvriadó 1967 · Italy: Nuova Accademia 1961 (“Terra Bruciata”), Nuova Accademia 1963 (“Siccittà”), Biblioteca del Vascello, 1993 (“Vite Secche”) · Netherlands: Het Wereldvenster 1981, Copperns & Frenks 1998 · Portugal: Portugália Editora 1965, Europa-América 1983, Caminho 1991 · Spain: Espasa-Calpe 1974, S.A. Bruguera · Sweden: Pontes 1993 · Turkey: Can Yayinlari 1985 · Uruguay: Nuestra América 1970; Banda Oriental 2004 · US: University of Texas Press 1965, 5th edition 1999
Brandão entre o Mar e Amor, 1942
Infância, 1945
Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 272 p.
Argentina: Siglo Veinte 1948, Beatriz Viterbo 2010 · France: Gallimard 1956 · Germany: Wagenbach 2013 · The Netherlands: Arbeiderspers · Portugal: Europa-América 1984, Caminho 1992 · Turkey: Vakif Pazarlama San · UK: P. Owen 1979 · Uruguay: Banda Oriental 2013
Insônia, 1947
Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 192 p.
France: Gallimard 1998 · Greece: Electra (year of publication unknown) · Italy: Fahrenheit 451 2008 · Portugal: Publicações Europa-América 1962, Caminho 1994
Memórias do Cárcere, 1953
Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 728 p.
France: Gallimard 1988 · Peru: Colmena · Portugal: Portugália Editora 1970, Europa-América 1983, Caminho 1993
Viagem, 1954
Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 256 p.
Linhas Tortas, 1962
Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 448 p.
Viventes das Alagoas, 1962
Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 272 p.
Alexandre e outros heróis, 1962
(Ed. Leitura “Histórias de Alexandre”)
Rio de Janeiro: Record 2003, 206 p.
Uruguay: Banda Oriental 2010
STORIES
Histórias incompletas
Porto Alegre: Livraria do Globo 1946, 145 p.
LETTERS
Cartas de amor a Heloísa, 1992
Rio de Janeiro: Record 1994 (last edition 1996), 91 p.
Cartas, 1980
Rio de Janeiro: Record 1994, Salvador: EDUFBA 2008, 208 p.
FOR YOUNG READERS
O estribo de Prata (a story from “Histórias de Alexandre”), 1984
Rio de Janeiro: Record 2002, 36 p.
A terra dos meninos pelados, 1937
Rio de Janeiro: Record 2002, 88 p.
German: Nagel & Kimche 1996 (rights available)
CHILDREN´S BOOKS
Poetry:
Os Filhos da Coruja
Brazil: 1923, São Paulo: Todavia (forthcoming 2024)
