An Invincible Memory - Hardcover

Ribeiro, Joao Ubaldo

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0060156228 ISBN 13: 9780060156220

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1989

Synopsis

A family saga spanning nearly 400 years, this absorbing epic novel lays bare the soul of the Brazilian nation. Whaling, war, macumba, slavery, *, cannibalism and Brazil's struggle for independence add momentum to Ribeiro's lyrical, effusive, sonorous, serpentine prose laced with a touch of magic realism, something of a cross between Melville and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. (The author himself has rendered the fluent translation.) At the center is Amleto Ferreira, a 19th century paterfamilias and conniving bookkeeper who defrauds a baron of his wealth; Amleto's ladylike, long-suffering wife Teolina; and their children, among them a priest, a romantic poet and a soldier. A bestseller in Brazil, the novel graphically portrays the terrible cruelty inflicted by whites on blacks, mulattos and Indians; the lives of these native peoples unfold in dozens of intertwined stories. The relationship between Merinha, patient, Penelope-like servant girl, and runaway slave Budiao is moving. Also memorable are 100-year-old Great Mother Dadinha and Maria da Fe, a bandit warrior who converses with birds and seeks special power from a sorcerer's charms. Catapulting his tale into the 1970s, journalist Ribeiro (Sergeant Getulio) creates a stunning portrait of a people who, though outwardly mirthful, are still not *.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060156228
• ISBN 13: 9780060156220
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1