Brazil's folk-popular poetry - "a literatura de cordel," - is perhaps the most important and vibrant variant of poetry of the masses in western culture. But not many people in the English-speaking world know much about it. Written by one of the most educated scholars on the subject, Brazil's Folk-Popular Poetry - A Literatura De Cordel goes back to the craft's origins in Portugal in the 17th and 18th centuries and tells the story of how it developed and found a place in the hearts and minds of the people of Brazil. Get ready to discover: How Spain and France influenced the poetry. Beautiful narrative poetry from forgotten poets who deserve to be rediscovered. How the "cordel" spread from northeastern Brazil to the Amazon region, to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in the South, and later to Brasilia. Why these poems are still relevant today. And much more! Become a fan of a poetry that documents religious beliefs, views on national politics, and thoughts on morality.

A Portrait of Brazil in the Twentieth Century: The Universe of the "Literatura de Cordel" is Curran's most recent project. The book, in effect, is the English version of a major work published in Brazil in Portuguese in 2011, Retrato do Brasil em Cordel. Curran returns to Portrait for several reasons: primary is his strong feeling that the amazingly broad view of Brazil in the twentieth century seen in the thousands of booklets in verse from the Cordel represents a major aspect of Brazilian culture in that century. Second, because there are many important bodies of folk-popular verse in the Western tradition, all distant relatives of the Greek and Roman epic traditions, and because Brazil's folk-popular poetry is one among them. And because a very large reading public interested in such things does not know Portuguese, this volume in English strives to make the tradition available to such readers. Finally, the book in two volumes represents the cumulative efforts of research and writing of Professor Curran in a career of forty-three years of scholarly research and teaching. It reveals a unique portrait of Brazil and its people, informative, instructive, and mainly, entertaining.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.

"The Master of the 'Literatura de Cordel' - Leandro Gomes de Barros. A Bilingual Anthology of Selected Works" is Professor Curran's return to research and writing from his first days in Brazil in 1966-1967 on a Fulbright Hays Fellowship for Ph.D. dissertation work. This book treats "Cordel's" best known and arguably best poet, a translation to English of his selected works, and a commentary on his pioneering days of the "Literatura de Cordel." Among the poet's topics were the changing times, foreigners in Brazil, government-politics-and war, mothers-in-law, sugar cane rum, religion and satire, banditry, the oral poetic duel, and the long narrative poems from the European popular tradition. Curran in addition gives a synopsis of the "Literatura de Cordel" as it was in its heyday in his initial research in the 1960s. The translation was a challenge but also a great pleasure.

A Portrait of Brazil in the Twentieth Century: The Universe of the Literatura de Cordel is Currans most recent project. The book, in effect, is the English version of a major work published in Brazil in Portuguese in 2011, Retrato do Brasil em Cordel. Curran returns to Portrait for several reasons: primary is his strong feeling that the amazingly broad view of Brazil in the twentieth century seen in the thousands of booklets in verse from the Cordel represents a major aspect of Brazilian culture in that century. Second, because there are many important bodies of folk-popular verse in the Western tradition, all distant relatives of the Greek and Roman epic traditions, and because Brazils folk-popular poetry is one among them. And because a very large reading public interested in such things does not know Portuguese, this volume in English strives to make the tradition available to such readers. Finally, the book in two volumes represents the cumulative efforts of research and writing of Professor Curran in a career of forty-three years of scholarly research and teaching. It reveals a unique portrait of Brazil and its people, informative, instructive, and mainly, entertaining.

Adventures of a "Gringo" Researcher in Brazil in the 1960s or In Search of Cordel is an entertaining and informative account of Professor Curran's first foray in Brazil. In this book he tells two stories: the research to collect cordel and, perhaps more importantly, the travel and the adventures of the year in Brazil. The two are inseparable and complement each other. Chapters include Recife and the Northeast, Travels to the interior of the Northeast, research in Brazil's colonial capital of Salvador da Bahia, research and tourism in Rio de Janeiro, trips to the interior of Rio, including Ouro Preto, Congonhas do Campo, and a memorable trip on a wood-burning stern wheeler on the Sao Francisco River in Minas Gerais and Bahia, and finally, research in the Amazon Basin, including both Belem do Para and Manaus. The account is not in academic language but in a colloquial, conversational style. Curran writes as one sitting down with the reader and telling tales of his travels, and perhaps with the author and reader enjoying a caipirinha, or a Brazilian draft beer choppe as they talk.

This book is a photographic journey of fifty years of research on Brazil and its folk-popular poetry, the literatura de cordel. The photos taken by the author over these fifty years are divided into three parts: 1. The poets and the printers of cordel 2.The intellectuals, informants and friends associated with the research and 3. The fairs, markets and scenes of folklore related to the research. Each photo, when applicable, is followed by a description of the scene or person. This archive includes many persons and scenes that are no longer present in Brazil thus documenting the reality of those times. The book is a companion book to the complete story of the story-poems and their authors seen in his recent Portrait of Brazil in the Twentieth Century - the Universe of the Literatura de Cordel.