Retrato do Brasil em Cordel (review)

Mark Curran’s Retrato do Brasil em Cordel attempts to give the reader a “snapshot” of Brazilian culture and society through the lens of Literatura de Cordel, a literary art form of printed booklets, often sold in street markets in Northeast Brazil. The stories are written in simple verses, composed by hundreds of street musicians and word artists. Curran explains how this popular literary tradition originated in Europe and later continued in Brazil in the late nineteenth century. Most importantly, he clarifies how Cordel flourished in the early twentieth century. In the introduction, he states that Cordel took a severe hit with the advent of radio and television as the major forms of entertainment for working-class people. Nevertheless, this traditional art form has since resurfaced in urban environments among middle-class poets who use the internet for the dissemination of their art.

The book is entirely written in Portuguese and has nonstandard, larger-sized pages, which allow for the reprint of the colorful booklet covers, alongside explanatory notes by the author. It is divided into ten chapters, following a format also found in Cordel literature. The topics of more than one hundred booklets include religious, political, historical, and fantasy themes. This review will provide a description of the content of the chapters, followed by an assessment of Curran’s expert analyses. Chapter 1 (or “album”) is titled “Deus no alto e aqui embaixo: Nisto acreditamos.” It focuses on booklets dealing with God and religion. The subtopics discussed are “good and evil,” “the apostles,” and “the apocalypse.” Chapter 2 is “As Manifestações” and focuses on the various religions in Brazil, such as the Afro-Brazilian candomblé, the Kardec Spiritualism, and the Catholic faith. Chapter 3 is “O que não se deve fazer: A recompensa do pecado” and focuses on booklets covering the moral topics of prostitution, adultery, and political corruption, among others. Chapter 4, “Um modelo de vida: Os heróis de Cordel,” deals with Brazilian folk heroes, such as the Northeastern cangaceiro, as well as the celebrated heroes of Asian and European traditions, namely Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves and the Knights of the Round Table. Chapter 5 examines booklets dealing with difficulties of life in general and is titled “A vida é uma luta, a vida é uma odisseia.” The booklets are about the harsh realities of the drought-stricken Northeast, as well as the plight of Northeastern migrant workers in the Southern cities and in the Amazon. Chapter 6, “Temos nossas distrações,” focuses on leisure, with topics that involve double entendres and relationships between men and women. This style of Cordel, called Gracejo, deals with comical stories that involve everyday events with often satirical undertones. Chapter 7, “Há um mundo grande lá fora,” deals with world wars and international conflicts.

According to Curran, Cordel literature is the greatest social “translator” of current events, made available for lower-class people. This is observed in chapter 8, “A vida está cada vez mais difícil.” The booklets included there deal with the rights of men, women and children; gays and other marginalized groups; violence in the streets and against the environment. In fact, the topic of feminism is presented in one booklet using Gracejo style by a well-known Cordel artist, Maxado. This topic is aptly discussed by Curran, who reminds us that the audience for these booklets was once mostly socially conservative, lower-class men who rejected the so-called foreign ideas of women’s rights. For post-feminist, present-day professional women, these verses are not comical at all; in fact, they are disturbingly reminiscent of a time when comedy was achieved by making fun of women and their “condition.” This criticism is somewhat expressed by Curran, but could be better supported theoretically. Finally, chapter 10, “Isto não é o fim,” deals with utopian themes, the idea of Heaven and Earth, and ends with the transcription of an entire booklet called “Tudo Na Terra Tem Fim.” Its poetic use of repetition and philosophical stance...