'The seed of madness exists in all of us and with no warning may attack, overpower, crush and bury us ... ' Policarpo Quaresma - fastidious civil servant, dedicated patriot, self-styled visionary - is a defender of all things Brazilian, full of schemes to improve his beloved homeland. Yet somehow each of his ventures, whether it is petitioning for Brazil's national language to be changed, buying a farm to prove the richness and fertility of the land, or offering support to government forces as they suppress a military revolt - results in ridicule and disaster. Quixotic and hapless, Quaresma's dreams will eventually be his undoing. Funny, despairing, moving and absurd, Lima Barreto's masterpiece shows a man and a country caught in the violent clash between illusion and reality, hope and decline, sanity and madness.

This edited volume is a collection of twelve interdisciplinary essays from various Brazilian literary scholars, historians, and anthropologists analyzing the work of 19th- and 20th-century Afro-Brazilian writer Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto. This is the first collection to present a cohesive analysis of this writer’s work in English. It is an intellectually diverse collection of essays that recover Barreto’s œuvreand consider a wide range of topics, including Barreto’s treatment of race, family, class, social and gender politics of postabolition Brazil, neocolonialism, the disjuncture between urban and suburban spaces, and national identity politics.

The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Latin American and Caribbean Literature, 1900-2003 draws together entries on all aspects of literature including authors, critics, major works, magazines, genres, schools and movements in these regions from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present day. With more than 200 entries written by a team of international contributors, this Encyclopedia successfully covers the popular to the esoteric. The Encyclopedia is an invaluable reference resource for those studying Latin American and/or Caribbean literature as well as being of huge interest to those folowing Spanish or Portuguese language courses.

Francis M. Rogers, to whom the current volume is in honor of, may be a modest man in principle, but not in his academic pursuits. To call his interests broad in scope is no exaggeration as they cover the fields of linguistics, literature, philology, bibliography, travel narratives and celestial navigation, which is nicely reflected in this volume. Part I concerns general and Luso-Brazilian linguistics (Bernard H. Bichakjian, John B. Jensen, Anthony J. Naro, Joseph M. Piel, Cléa Rameh); Part II Medieval studies: Sheila R. Ackerlind, Donald Stone Jr., Paolo Valesio, Joan B. Williamson; Part III Luso-Brazilian literature (Memória de Lázaro, Frederick C.H. Garcia, David T. Haberly, Jane M. Malinoff, Noami Hoki Moniz, Maria Luisa Nunes, Noêl W. Ortega, Raymond S. Sayers, Nelson H. Vieira); and Part IV on travel literature (Mary M. Rowan, Charity Cannon Willard). This volume also contains a complete bibliography of the writings of Francis M. Rogers.

A comprehensive, encyclopedic guide to the authors, works, and topics crucial to the literature of Central and South America and the Caribbean, the Encyclopedia of Latin American Literature includes over 400 entries written by experts in the field of Latin American studies. Most entries are of 1500 words but the encyclopedia also includes survey articles of up to 10,000 words on the literature of individual countries, of the colonial period, and of ethnic minorities, including the Hispanic communities in the United States. Besides presenting and illuminating the traditional canon, the encyclopedia also stresses the contribution made by women authors and by contemporary writers. Outstanding Reference Source Outstanding Reference Book

Jorge Amado is simultaneously one of Brazil's most prolific and widely read novelists and one of its most controversial. Seeking to offer for his English-speaking audience the same range of critical thinking that surrounds his work in Brazil, this volume provides an introduction and chronology to Amado's life, followed by a comprehensive survey of his major works by some of the world's leading Latin American Studies scholars. As the case of Jorge Amado is central to the emergence of Brazilian literature in the twentieth century, this volume of original essays will place him in clearer critical perspective for English language readers.