While many revel in Brazilian cultural complexity through its wealth of musical genres, South America\u2019s biggest country also has some of the richest literatures of the region. Brazilian authors have produced some of the world\u2019s most prized books, explaining history, culture and society in Brazil with the help of eloquent, poetic language.<\/p>\n
Many of the greatest works feature complex, earnest characters, who often undertake courageous journeys, revealing ground-breaking concepts and phenomena along the way. Brazil\u2019s literary heritage is undoubtedly influenced by the lives of its most influential figures, too \u2013 many of whom had unusual trajectories themselves.<\/p>\n
Here are the 15 books by Brazilian authors that are worth every second of your time.<\/p>\n
The Posthumous Memoirs of Br\u00e1s Cubas, Machado de Assis (1881)<\/em> Dom Casmurro, Machado de Assis (1899)<\/em> The Slum, Alu\u00edsio Azevedo (1890)<\/em> Macuna\u00edma, Mario de Andrade (1928)<\/em> O Quinze, Rachel de Queiroz (1930)<\/em> Captains of the Sands, Jorge Amado (1937)<\/em> Time and the Wind, Erico Verissimo (1951)<\/em> The Passion According To G.H., Clarice Lispector (1964)<\/em> City of God, Paulo Lins (1997)<\/em> I\u2019d receive the worst news from your beautiful lips, Mar\u00e7al Aquino (2005)<\/em> Lampi\u00e3o and Lancelot, Fernando Vilela (2006)<\/em>
\nBorn epileptic and to a working-class family in Rio de Janeiro, Machado do Assis taught himself to read and write and became one of Brazil\u2019s most prized and prolific authors. In this work, Assis makes use of surrealism to narrate a series of mistakes and failed romances belonging to the story\u2019s protagonist. The concept itself was revolutionary at the time, differing from the contemporary realist novels by his cultural counterparts: the main character, Br\u00e1s Cubas, is telling his story from beyond the grave.<\/p>\n
\nAssis\u2019s works are radical and influential enough to make him the only author to make his way on to this list twice. In\u00a0Dom Casmurro<\/em>, Assis tackles ideas about adultery through the story of a betrayed husband. Capitu, the narrator\u2019s wife, supposedly cheats on her husband with his best friend, and gives birth to a son. Although the protagonist doesn\u2019t believe that the child is his, he also seems to lack any factual evidence of betrayal. Assis said that readers should be able to figure out the truth from the story itself, which has been subject to plenty of heated debates since publication.<\/p>\n
\nOriginally a journalist, Azevedo drew inspiration from real people for his characters. But he later abandoned this tradition for literary realism, following the influences of E\u00e7a de Queir\u00f3s and \u00c9mile Zola. In\u00a0The\u00a0<\/em>Slum, Azevedo narrates the life of Portuguese immigrants, former slaves, and mixed-race people living in the same community. Key to understanding 19th century Brazil, this book shows how characters and behaviours were influenced by their environment, race, and social position.<\/p>\n
\nAndrade\u2019s works started getting published in newspapers and magazines pretty early on in his life, and was one of the pioneers of modernist literature in Brazil.\u00a0Macuna\u00edma<\/em>\u00a0is Andrade\u2019s work of magical realism, using regional dialects and telling the story of a protagonist born in the Brazilian jungle who can shapeshift. In his journey from S\u00e3o Paulo and back again, Andrade transports readers through the extremes of Brazilian society. Although Andrade was prolific,\u00a0Macuna\u00edma\u00a0<\/em>is notable for its extensive background research on Brazilian linguistics, culture, and indigenous folklore.<\/p>\n
\nQueiroz was only 20 years old when she published\u00a0O Quinze<\/em>, telling the story of 1915\u2019s great drought in the Northeast of Brazil. Born in the northeastern city of Fortaleza, Queiroz was well placed to tell the story of her protagonist, Chico Bento, and his family\u2019s journey to the Amazon.\u00a0O Quinze<\/em>\u00a0turned out to be just one of Queiroz\u2019s many works. She won recognition for multiple newspaper chronicles, novels, and short stories. In 1964, Queiroz represented Brazil at the United Nations and became the first women to enter the Brazilian Academy of Letters.<\/p>\n
\nAmado is one of Brazil\u2019s most famous and most translated authors of all time. In the year of its publishing,\u00a0Captain of the Sands\u00a0<\/em>caused a controversy, and more than 800 copies were burned in a square in Brazil\u2019s capital. However, Amado\u2019s revolutionary depiction of Salvador\u2019s street children endured the test of time. In the gang of 100 street children, Amado shows the leaders, teachers, dreamers and lovers and integrates elements of Afro-Brazilian culture, including Candombl\u00e9 and capoeira.<\/p>\n
\nVerissimo\u2019s epic masterpiece comes in three parts, recounting two centuries of Brazilian history. The trilogy \u2013 split into\u00a0The Continent<\/em>,\u00a0The Portrait<\/em>, and\u00a0The Arquipelago<\/em>, Verissimo tells the story of how Brazil\u2019s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, was formed. Beginning in 1745, Verissimo\u2019s epic traces the South\u2019s relationships with oligarchy, internal wars and border conflicts all the way to 1945.<\/p>\n
\nClarice Lispector is another of Brazil\u2019s most prominent literary names. Born in Ukraine, a naturalized Brazilian and a self-declared\u00a0pernambucana<\/em>, Lispector\u2019s books and journalistic works are renowned throughout the world. In\u00a0The Passion According To G.H.,<\/em>\u00a0Lispector presents a monologue from a protagonist who suffers a personal crisis after killing a cockroach in her wardrobe.<\/p>\n
\nOne of Brazil\u2019s most famous films,\u00a0City of God<\/em>\u00a0actually drew its inspiration from a book. In his most famous work, Lins depicts his hometown favela\u2019s transformation through the years. The main character is a spin-off of Lins himself, telling the reader how his favela became the center of the full-blown drug cartel violence in the 1980s. Lins spent 8 years collecting material for his book, working as a research assistant in an anthropological study about crime in the favelas.<\/p>\n
\nJournalist and screenwriter Mar\u00e7al Aquino, who writes with the cinema in mind, grew up in the interior of S\u00e3o Paulo to become one of Brazil\u2019s modern literary greats. In his 2005 work, Aquino creates a gritty suspense in the depiction of a deadly affair between a photographer, Cauby, and his lover Lav\u00ednia. This particular work was so popular that it was adapted for television and translated into Spanish.<\/p>\n
\nLampi\u00e3o and Lancelot<\/em>\u00a0earned Vilela two of Brazil\u2019s most important contemporary literary awards, the Jabuti prize, on publication. In Vilela\u2019s imaginings, two of the world\u2019s most important folk heroes, the Northeastern Robin Hood style figure Lampi\u00e3o and the medieval knight Lancelot, meet by chance.<\/p>\n