Oxford anthology of the Brazilian short story

541 Pages·2006·1.91 MB·English

by  Kenneth David Jackson

Oxford Anthology of the
Brazilian Short Story
K. David Jackson,
Editor
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford Anthology
of the
Brazilian Short Story
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Oxford Anthology
of the
Brazilian Short Story
Egditekd by
K. David Jackson
1
2006
1
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OxfordanthologyoftheBrazilianshortstory/editedbyK.DavidJackson.
p.cm.
ISBN-13978-0-19-516759-7;978-0-19-530964-5(pbk.)
ISBN0-19-516759-7;0-19-530964-2(pbk.)
1. Shortstories,Brazilian.I. Jackson,K.David(KennethDavid)
PQ9676.O942006
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To my Brazilianists, Elizabeth, Sophia,
Katharina, and Kenneth, and to all those who
discover and come to love Brazilian literature
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Preface
The invitation to compile an anthology of the Brazilian short story for Oxford
University Press has led me to more than two years of unexpected and gratifying
adventures.Thelaboroflocatingandselectingshortstoriesintranslationpresented
me initially with a complex literary puzzle, while the long process of contacting
writers and their heirs,literary agents,andpublishersaddedanunexpectedhuman
and legal dimension to the construction of this anthology. Even for someone fa-
miliar with the authors and their works, the few bibliographies of Brazilian short
stories in English translation that exist are incomplete and fragmentary, thus my
first taskwastosurvey allofthepublishedworksinEnglishthatcouldbelocated.
The sixteen floors of densely packed books in Yale’s Sterling Memorial Library
added a certain sense of mystery to my search, not to mention months of good
exercise in hot, humid weather. Copying hundreds of stories and compiling new
bibliographiesoccupiedmonthaftermonth.WereitnotforYale’simmenselibrary,
where I spent a summer in the stacks, the task of locating rare published stories
would have been much more difficult. One thing led to another, untilI heldinmy
hands, for example, the single issue of Inter-American Magazine from1918orthe
London journal Life & Letters from 1943. The interlibrary loan department was
an essential resource, which was called upon to produce copies from even rarer
titles, such as the anthology Love Stories published in Sa˜o Paulo in English. I am
grateful to librarian Cesar Rodrı´guez of the Latin American Collection, who gave
valuableassistanceinlocatingbibliographiesofpublishedstoriesintranslation,and
I would especially like to thank Lawrence Hallewell for a copy of his own compi-
lationofBrazilianstoriesinEnglishtranslation,whichhesenttomefromEngland.
The number of Brazilian stories located was naturally much greater than could be
included in a single anthology, and it was often difficult to choose.
In selecting storiesfortheanthology,mygoalwasalwaystoincludetheclassic
stories that qualify to join the best of world literature. In doing so, the anthology
seekstofamiliarizeitsaudiencewiththeworkofseveraldozenofBrazil’sbestshort
storywriters,coveringtheperiodwhenitsmodernliteraturedevelopeddynamically,
with stories dating from 1882 to 1996. Too many of Brazil’s major writers are
underrepresented in English translation and therefore not widely known orappre-
ciated,whetherinuniversitycoursesorontheshelvesofreaders.Withtheexception
ofseveralunpublishedtranslations,thestoriestobechosenfortheanthologyshould
have been previously translated and published, according to my charge from Ox-
ford. Therefore, my objective needed to be, on the one hand, to avoid duplicating
viii Preface
stories that had been frequently anthologized within the past fifteen years and, on
the other, to include a large number of stories by the recognized masters of the
shortstory,particularlyMachadodeAssisandGuimara˜esRosa,thatarenolonger
in print or difficult to obtain. Some well-known stories were irresistible because
they deserve to be read by as wide an audience as possible.
Another high point of this adventure has been personal contact with many of
Brazil’s greatest writers, as I sought permission to include their work. It was espe-
cially exciting to contact authors whom I had read for many years but never met,
as in an unexpected telephone call from Lygia Fagundes Telles, or letters and
e-mailsfromCarlosHeitorCony,RubemFonseca,MoacyrScliar,andDaltonTrev-
isan. In other cases, I knew the writers well: Ne´lida Pin˜o´nandEdlaVanSteenhad
given lectures for the Yale Portuguese program; Milton Hatoum was a visiting
writer under a program from the Ministry of Culture; and Autran Dourado had
been introduced to me many years ago by the writerandcriticSilvianoSantiago.I
am grateful for their generous cooperation. I was privileged to contact relativesor
representatives of writers in the anthology. During a visit to Salvador, Bahia,
through the introduction of a close friend, I met Elizabeth Ramos, granddaughter
of Graciliano Ramos, from whom I learned much about his personality and char-
acter. I am grateful to Luı´sa Ramos Amado, Graciliano’sdaughter,forherpermis-
sion to print the stories. Teleˆ PortoAncona Lopez,mycolleaguefromtheInstitute
of Brazilian Studiesat the UniversityofSa˜oPaulo,onceagaingenerouslyprovided
contacts with the family of Ma´rio de Andrade, and I would like to thank Carlos
Augusto de Andrade Camargo for his cooperation. Heitor Martins helped me to
contactthefamilyofJoa˜oAlphonsus,andIwishtothankFerna˜oBaetaViannade
Guimaraens and Liliana Viana de Guimara˜es. In the same fashion, Ana LuizaAn-
drade introduced me to Lauro Oliveira, who handed my letter to the sisters of
OsmanLinsinRecife.IwishtothankSı´lviaRubia˜oResendeforthestorybyMurilo
Rubia˜o and Renata del Giudice for the story by her late father, Victor Giudice.
I havelikewisecorrespondedwithmanyliteraryagentswhorepresentBrazilian
authors. Very special thanks go to Ray-Gu¨de Mertin, literary agent for Brazilian
literature in Germany, for making it possible to include storiesbyJoa˜oGuimara˜es
Rosa in the anthology, as well as for her delightful and generous correspondence.
I am grateful to Agnes Guimara˜es Rosa do Amaral and to Vilma Guimara˜esRosa
for their cooperation. Bella Campillo provided advice about the works of Clarice
Lispector and others. Literary agents in Brazil, among them Ana Luisa Chafir, A´l-
varo Gomes, Lucia Riff, and Patrı´cia Seibel, have been consistently generous and
cooperative.Glo´riaBordinisearchedfororiginalmanuscriptsbyE´ricoVerı´ssimoin
hisarchiveandsuggestedthathewrotedirectlyinEnglish.Fromallofthesesources,
I have learned more about copyright law than I ever thought necessary, as wellas
the intricacies of markets and agents. I also wish to thank the many professional
publishers and journals for their advice and permissions, which are listed in the
acknowledgmentsof this book.
TheBrazilianshortstoryhasattractedmanytalentedtranslatorsovertheyears.
Earlyjournals,however,oftendidnotevenincludetheirnames,andthereforemuch
good work remains anonymous. Where I have received rights directly fromanau-
thor,Ihavealsosoughtthetranslator’s,andIwouldliketorecognizethefinework