Álvares de Azevedo
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| Álvares de Azevedo | |
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| Born | Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo 12 September 1831 São Paulo City, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Died | 25 April 1852 (aged 20) Rio de Janeiro City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Occupation | Poet, essayist, short story writer, playwright |
| Nationality |  Brazilian |
| Ethnicity | White |
| Alma mater | University of São Paulo |
| Subjects | Mal du siècle |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
| Notable work(s) | Lira dos Vinte Anos, Noite na Taverna, Macário |
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Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo (September 12, 1831 — April 25, 1852) was a Brazilian Romantic writer. He was distinguished by his readiness of learning languages and for his young, sentimental spirit.
An adept of the "Ultra-romanticism" movement, Álvares founded the Ensaio Filosófico Paulistano magazine in 1849 (which ceased publication in 1851) and the "Sociedade Epicureia" ("Epicurean Society") in 1847, a group which promoted Epicureanism and Bohemianism as lifestyles. Other founders (and members) included Álvares' personal friends Aureliano Lessa and Bernardo Guimarães.
He is patron of the second chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
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[edit] Biography
Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo was born in São Paulo, in 1831, to Inácio Manuel Álvares de Azevedo and Maria Luísa Mota Azevedo. He also had a younger brother, Inácio Manuel, who died June 26, 1835, which made Álvares very appalled. In 1831, the family moved to Rio de Janeiro, where Álvares initiated his studies. He was matriculated in the Stoll High School, in Botafogo, where his intelligence and performance was praised by the school's headmaster, Dr. Stoll, who said of Azevedo: "He has, what's very rare, a great innocence of customs to the greater intellectual capacity, that I have ever seen here or in America of a boy his age".
After studying French, English and Latin, he transferred to São Paulo in 1844, returning to Rio at the end of the year.
In 1845, Álvares was matriculated in the Colégio Pedro II, in Rio. However, he performed poorly, due to his tendency to caricature his classmates and teachers. Taught by Gonçalves de Magalhães, he received his Bachelor of Literature degree in 1846.
He entered at the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo in 1847, where he met José de Alencar, José Bonifácio the Young (the nephew of José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, "the Patriarch"), Aureliano Lessa and Bernardo Guimarães. With the latter two, he planned to write a collaborative work named As Três Liras (English: The Three Lyres) — however, it ended unsuccessful. The only remaining part of the project today is his book Lira dos Vinte Anos.
He contracted tuberculosis, but the real cause of his death was a gastric inflammation he got after falling from a horse. He died April 25, 1852, and was buried one day later at the Cemitério São João Batista.
[edit] Works
Due to his premature death, all of Álvares' works were published posthumously.
- Lira dos Vinte Anos (1853 — poetry anthology)
- Macário (1855 — theatre play)
- Noite na Taverna (1855 — short story book)
- O Conde Lopo (1886 — an epic poem that remains only in fragments today)
Álvares also wrote many letters and essays, and translated into Portuguese Lord Byron's poem "Parisina" and William Shakespeare's Othello's fifth act.
[edit] References
- ALVES, Maria C. R. O Poeta-Leitor: Um Estudo das Epígrafes Hugoanas em Álvares de Azevedo. USP, 1999.
- CUNHA, Cilaine Alves. O Belo e o Disforme. EDUSP, 2000.
- CUNHA, Cilaine Alves. Entusiasmo Indianista e Ironia Byroniana. EDUSP, 2000.
