{"id":575271,"date":"2026-01-19T14:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T17:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=575271"},"modified":"2026-01-27T16:26:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:26:56","slug":"a-national-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/a-national-voice\/","title":{"rendered":"A national voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cDona Flor: This character is coming along nicely. The last two scenes I churned out quickly\u2014the first in a day, although the second took me four: it was the scene of Vadinho\u2019s arrival, after all. I\u2019ve now started on part five. Today I\u2019m tackling the first scene. It\u2019s in rough form\u2014needs rewriting. This fifth section is proving difficult.\u201d That\u2019s how celebrated Bahian author Jorge Amado (1912\u20132001) described his effort in crafting a pivotal scene from Dona Flor and her two husbands<\/em> (1966) in a 1962 letter to his wife, fellow writer Z\u00e9lia Gattai (1916\u20132008). \u201cAt first glance, Amado\u2019s prolific body of work might suggest he was a haphazard writer who didn\u2019t dwell on craft,\u201d says Marcos Antonio de Moraes, a professor of Brazilian literature at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP). \u201cBut his correspondence tells a different story: Amado was methodical, allowed his ideas time to mature, and often anguished over his writing as a work in progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moraes is one of 56 contributors to the newly published Dicion\u00e1rio cr\u00edtico Jorge Amado<\/em> (A critical dictionary of Jorge Amado; EDUSP), edited by historians Marcos Silva (1950\u20132024), formerly of USP\u2019s School of Philosophy, Languages and Literature, and Human Sciences (FFLCH), and Nelson Tomelin Jr. of the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM). Ten years in the making, the book is a collection of essays on Amado\u2019s oeuvre written by scholars from various disciplines, including literary studies and anthropology. Among other works, it explores Amado\u2019s 23 novels written since the 1930s\u2014titles such as Jubiab\u00e1<\/em> (1935) and Gabriela, clove and cinnamon<\/em> (1958). It also includes entries on moments that shaped Amado\u2019s trajectory, such as his 1961 induction speech at the Brazilian Academy of Letters.<\/p>\n

According to Tomelin Jr., one of the aims of the publication, which was produced with support from the Amazonas State Research Foundation (FAPEAM), is to help expand and refresh the public\u2019s understanding of Amado\u2019s work and its historical context. \u201cAmado has an enormous readership in Brazil and abroad, due in large part to the vitality of his prose, the thematic reach of his novels, and their resonance with the times in which they were written. But the critical reception in Brazil has often been mixed,\u201d notes the researcher. One possible reason, suggests Eduardo de Assis Duarte, professor emeritus at the School of Languages and Literature at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), is precisely Amado\u2019s immense popularity with readers. \u201cSome in academia dismiss him as a \u2018lightweight\u2019 author of serialized fiction,\u201d Duarte says, \u201cbut as early as the 1930s, he was already tackling weighty national issues\u2014like youth homelessness in Captains of the sands<\/em> [1937].\u201d<\/p>\n

According to journalist and historian Joselia Aguiar, author of Jorge Amado: Uma biografia<\/em> (Jorge Amado: A biography; Todavia, 2018), critical engagement with Amado\u2019s work began in the 1930s. \u201cIn his early years, Amado enjoyed strong critical acclaim, drawing praise from names like Oswald de Andrade [1890\u20131954] and Antonio Candido [1918\u20132017],\u201d says Aguiar, who earned her Ph.D. in 2019 at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s Department of History, where she wrote her thesis on the Brazilian author. \u201cThat changed in the 1970s,\u201d she explains. \u201cCritics increasingly approached his work through a gender lens. One notable example was Walnice Nogueira Galv\u00e3o\u2019s critique of Tereza Batista: Home from the wars<\/em> (1972), which cast the novel in a negative light and shaped academic opinion thereafter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Z\u00e9lia Gattai Collection\u2009\/\u2009Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Casa de Jorge Amado<\/span>From left to right: Z\u00e9lia Gattai, philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, and Jorge Amado with M\u00e3e Senhora (seated<\/em>) in Salvador, 1960sZ\u00e9lia Gattai Collection\u2009\/\u2009Funda\u00e7\u00e3o Casa de Jorge Amado<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Aguiar notes that as Brazil\u2019s Black movement gained momentum in the late 1970s, authors such as Amado\u2014who touched on racial themes\u2014came under fire for portraying race relations in a way that some viewed as overly conciliatory. \u201cToday, though, even in these critical arenas, his work is being revisited and reassessed,\u201d Aguiar says. This return has been fueled in part by a growing number of Black students entering Brazilian universities over the past 25 years, bringing new perspectives into academia. Another key factor is the republishing of Amado\u2019s work by Companhia das Letras beginning in 2008. \u201cWhat\u2019s still lacking,\u201d she adds, \u201cis more engagement from within the literary field itself\u2014a closer look at what made his work so successful and the mechanics of his storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another recurring critique\u2014raised by literary scholars such as Alfredo Bosi (1936\u20132021) of USP\u2014is that some of Amado\u2019s early works, especially from the 1930s to the 1950s, leaned too heavily into political propaganda. After joining the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) in 1931, Amado began writing overtly ideological texts\u2014books and pamphlets commissioned by the party\u2014many of which were never reprinted. A prime example is Homens e coisas do Partido Comunista<\/em> (Men and things of the Communist Party; 1946), which is part of a series published by Horizonte, a publishing house run by the PCB. In 61 pages, the book tells the story of communist activists portrayed as heroes in the fight against fascism during Brazil\u2019s Estado Novo<\/em> regime (1937\u20131945).<\/p>\n

\u201cThis ideological phase of Amado\u2019s career is often criticized not just for its communist alignment, but for how he became a de facto<\/em> party propagandist\u2014promoting international socialism through the framework of socialist realism,\u201d says Lincoln Secco of FFLCH-USP, who authored the dictionary entry on Homens e coisas do Partido Comunista<\/em>. Despite alienating literary critics, these partisan works propelled Amado to international prominence. His biographical novel The Knight of Hope<\/em> (1942), written at the party\u2019s request and chronicling the life of leftist leader Lu\u00eds Carlos Prestes (1898\u20131990), was translated into 21 languages, including German, French, and Japanese. \u201cThe Communist movement invested heavily in publishing to promote its causes,\u201d notes Secco.<\/p>\n

In a 2024 doctoral thesis defended at FFLCH-USP, aided by research grant funding from FAPESP, historian Geferson Santana explored how Amado, along with fellow Bahian intellectuals Edison Carneiro (1912\u20131972) and Aydano do Couto Ferraz (1914\u20131985), engaged in debates on race and class in early twentieth-century Brazil. \u201cIn the 1920s, the PCB denied that racism existed in Brazil\u2014and even embraced the notion of racial whitening,\u201d Santana explains. \u201cThe three intellectuals, who joined the party in the 1930s, were among the key figures who pushed the PCB to take up racial issues,\u201d he says. \u201cTheir goals included fighting racism and religious intolerance, and increasing Black workers\u2019 representation within the party.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Reproductions<\/span>Covers of Jubiab\u00e1 <\/em>and the U.S. edition of Gabriela, clove and cinnamon<\/em>Reproductions<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Amado\u2019s overtly political literary phase extended into the 1950s. His final ideological work is widely regarded to be the trilogy The bowels of liberty<\/em> (1954), written during his exile in Europe. The trilogy\u2019s three volumes\u2014Bitter times<\/em>, agony of night<\/em>, and Light at the end of the tunnel<\/em>\u2014paint a sweeping portrait of Brazilian political life just before the 1937 coup led by Get\u00falio Vargas. According to Antonio Dimas, a professor of Brazilian literature at FFLCH-USP, the trilogy reads like Amado\u2019s final tribute to the Communist Party\u2014his way of closing a chapter before leaving the party in 1956. \u201cIt\u2019s as if he were saying: \u2018This trilogy is my discharge\u2014my dues paid in full,\u2019\u201d says Dimas.<\/p>\n

Many scholars, including Dimas, point to Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon<\/em> (1958) as a watershed moment in Jorge Amado\u2019s literary career. He sees this work as the moment Amado left political propaganda behind to become a pure novelist. \u201cThis was a different Amado\u2014with more humor and irony. After Gabriela<\/em>, he would go on to create unforgettable heroines like Tieta and Dona Flor,\u201d says Dimas. \u201cBut it\u2019s worth noting,\u201d he adds, \u201cthat even in The Country of Carnival<\/em> [1931], which he wrote at 18, women already appear as strong and resilient\u2014even when they\u2019re relegated to the margins of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eduardo de Assis Duarte of UFMG, however, sees no sharp rupture in Amado\u2019s literary trajectory. He makes this case in his new book, Narrador do Brasil: Jorge Amado, leitor de seu tempo e de seu pa\u00eds<\/em> (Jorge Amado: Narrator of his time and nation; Fino Tra\u00e7o Editora, 2024). In Duarte\u2019s view, Amado consistently explored the themes of gender, class, and race throughout his literary career. \u201cHe always wrote about free women, in charge of their own lives,\u201d says Duarte. \u201cHe went so far as to place two sex workers at the center of his stories\u2014Tieta<\/em> [1977] and Tereza Batista: Home from the wars<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Owing to works such as Gabriela, clove and cinnamon<\/em>, Jorge Amado earned a spot in the Guinness World Records in 1996 as the world\u2019s most translated author. His works have been translated into 49 languages. Amado\u2019s novels began reaching U.S. readers in the 1940s, owing largely to President Franklin D. Roosevelt\u2019s (1892\u20131945) Good Neighbor Policy, a diplomatic strategy launched after World War II (1939\u20131945). As part of that policy, the U.S. State Department sponsored efforts to publish international authors in the U.S. market.<\/p>\n

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Natonal Archives\u2009\/\u2009Correio da Manh\u00e3<\/em>\u2009\/\u2009Wikimedia Commons\u2002| Revista Brasileira<\/em> \u2013 Brazilian Academy of Letters\u2009\/\u2009Wikimedia Commons<\/span>Two photos of Amado (standing<\/em>) from the 1960s\u2014on the left, at a gathering attended by President Jo\u00e3o Goulart (to the left of the lamp<\/em>), and at the Brazilian Academy of Letters (right<\/em>)Natonal Archives\u2009\/\u2009Correio da Manh\u00e3<\/em>\u2009\/\u2009Wikimedia Commons\u2002| Revista Brasileira<\/em> \u2013 Brazilian Academy of Letters\u2009\/\u2009Wikimedia Commons<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Amado made his American debut with The violent land<\/em>, published in Brazil in 1943 and translated into English in 1945. The English edition was published by American publishers Alfred Knopf (1892\u20131984) and his wife Blanche Knopf (1894\u20131966). \u201cIn their publishing under the Good Neighbor Policy, the Knopfs were especially drawn to authors whose fiction shed light on Brazilian history,\u201d explains Marly Tooge, a translator who published an article on the topic in 2024. \u201cThat included not just Amado, but also \u00c9rico Verissimo [1905\u20131975].\u201d<\/p>\n

After Gabriela<\/em> was published in the United States in 1962, Jorge Amado landed on The New York Times<\/em> best-seller list\u2014where he stayed for a full year. \u201cIt would seem that Amado\u2019s departure from Marxist ideology in the 1950s helped pave the way for his success in the U.S.,\u201d says Tooge. \u201cBut it also had to do with the way his books were translated.\u201d Her 2009 master\u2019s thesis at FFLCH-USP was later turned into the FAPESP-funded book Traduzindo o BraZil: O pa\u00eds mesti\u00e7o de Jorge Amado<\/em> (Translated as BraZil: Jorge Amado\u2019s mixed-race nation; Humanitas, 2012). She notes how translators James Taylor and William Grossman softened the novel\u2019s social critique in English and amplified its sensual appeal. \u201cThis kind of sanitization was also done with other Amado novels published in the U.S., like Dona Flor and her two husbands<\/em>,\u201d she adds. \u201cPublishers placed an emphasis on the \u2018exotic\u2019 side of his stories in marketing campaigns. In contrast, Amado\u2019s ideological works saw more success in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond fiction, Amado was also a prolific correspondent. Joselia Aguiar notes how the archive of letters compiled by Amado and his wife Z\u00e9lia Gattai\u2014which is now preserved at the Jorge Amado Foundation in Salvador\u2014holds approximately 70,000 letters. In her doctoral thesis, Aguiar focused on Amado\u2019s correspondence between the 1950s and 1980s with Spanish-language authors such as Cuban poet Nicol\u00e1s Guill\u00e9n (1890\u20131954) and Chilean Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda (1904\u20131973). \u201cThrough these letters, Amado built a network of both emotional and cultural-political camaraderie. He saw literature in Latin America as a tool of resistance to imperialism,\u201d says Aguiar. \u201cHe believed it was essential to discover and express a truly national voice through literature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Project<\/strong>
\nDebates on race and class by communist intellectuals: Printed material and social networks in Brazil (1937\u20131957) (n\u00ba 19\/09513-7<\/a>);\u00a0Grant Mechanism<\/strong>\u00a0Doctoral Fellowship;\u00a0Supervisor Marisa Midore Deaecto (USP);\u00a0Beneficiary<\/strong>\u00a0Geferson Santana de Jesus\u00a0Investment\u00a0<\/strong>R$144,934.33.<\/p>\n

Scientific article<\/strong>
\nTOOGE, M. D. B.\u00a0Entre guerras e tradu\u00e7\u00f5es: Literatura brasileira em ingl\u00eas, a USIA e Alfred A. Knopf<\/a>.\u00a0Interdisciplinar \u2013 Revista de Estudos em L\u00edngua e Literatura.<\/strong> Vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 61\u201374. 2024.<\/p>\n

Books<\/strong>
\nDUARTE, E. de A.\u00a0Narrador do Brasil: Jorge Amado, leitor de seu tempo e seu pa\u00eds<\/strong>. Belo Horizonte: Fino Tra\u00e7o, 2024.
\nSILVA, M. & TOMELIN JUNIOR, N. (ed.).\u00a0Dicion\u00e1rio cr\u00edtico Jorge Amado<\/strong>. S\u00e3o Paulo: Edusp, 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New studies revisit the legacy of Jorge Amado, revealing an author deeply engaged with racial, class, and gender issues","protected":false},"author":784,"featured_media":575289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[241,245],"coauthors":[5509],"class_list":["post-575271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humanities","tag-history","tag-literature"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/784"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=575271"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":575313,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/575271\/revisions\/575313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/575289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=575271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=575271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=575271"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=575271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}