José de Alencar

For other uses, see José de Alencar (disambiguation).

José de Alencar
Born	José Martiniano de Alencar 1 May 1829(1829-05-01) Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Died	12 December 1877(1877-12-12) (aged 48) Rio de Janeiro City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Pen name	Erasmo Ig
Occupation	Lawyer, politician, orator, novelist, dramatist
Nationality	Brazilian
Alma mater	University of São Paulo
Literary movement	Romanticism
Notable work(s)	The Guarani, Senhora, Lucíola, Iracema
Spouse(s)	Georgina Augusta Cochrane
Children	Augusto de Alencar, Mário de Alencar
Relative(s)	José Martiniano Pereira de Alencar, Leonel Martiniano de Alencar

José Martiniano de Alencar (May 1, 1829 — December 12, 1877) was a Brazilian lawyer, politician, orator, novelist and dramatist. He is one of the most famous writers of the first generation of Brazilian Romanticism, writing historical, regionalist and Indianist romances — being the most famous The Guarani. He wrote some works under pen name Erasmo.

He is patron of the 23rd chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

Biography

José Martiniano de Alencar was born in what is today the bairro of Messejana, Fortaleza, on May 1, 1829, to priest (and later senator) José Martiniano Pereira de Alencar and his cousin Ana Josefina de Alencar. Moving to São Paulo in 1844, he graduated in Law at the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo in 1850 and starts to follow his lawyer career at Rio de Janeiro. Invited by his friend Francisco Otaviano, he becomes a collaborator for journal Correio Mercantil. He also wrote for the Diário do Rio de Janeiro and the Jornal do Commercio.

The house where José de Alencar was born, in the bairro of Messejana, in Fortaleza

It was in the Diário do Rio de Janeiro, during the year of 1856, that Alencar gained notoriety, writing the Cartas sobre A Confederação dos Tamoios, under the pseudonym Ig. In those, he criticized the homonymous poem by Gonçalves de Magalhães. Also in 1856, he wrote and published under feuilleton form his first romance: Cinco Minutos.

He was a personal friend of Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis. Coincidentally, Alencar is the patron of the chair Assis occupied.

He died in Rio de Janeiro in 1877, a victim of tuberculosis.

Works

Novels

• Cinco Minutos (1856)
• A Viuvinha (1857)
• O Guarani (1857)
• Lucíola (1862)
• Diva (1864)
• Iracema (1865)
• As Minas de Prata (1865 — 1866)
• O Gaúcho (1870)
• A Pata da Gazela (1870)
• O Tronco do Ipê (1871)
• A Guerra dos Mascates (1871 — 1873)
• Til (1871)
• Sonhos d'Ouro (1872)
• Alfarrábios (1873)
• Ubirajara (1874)
• O Sertanejo (1875)
• Senhora (1875)
• Encarnação (1893 — posthumous)

Theatre plays

• O Crédito (1857)
• Verso e Reverso (1857)
• O Demônio Familiar (1857)
• As Asas de um Anjo (1858)
• Mãe (1860)
• A Expiação (1867)
• O Jesuíta (1875)

Chronicles

• Ao Correr da Pena (1874)

Autobiography

• Como e Por Que sou Romancista (1873)

Critics and polemics

• Cartas sobre A Confederação dos Tamoios (1856)
• Cartas Políticas de Erasmo (1865 — 1866)
• O Sistema Representativo (1866)

External links

• José de Alencar's biography at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Portuguese)
• A biography of Alencar at the official site of Messejana (Portuguese)

Preceded by New creation

Brazilian Academy of Letters - Patron of the 23rd chair

Succeeded by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (founder)