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BRAZIL The Making of a Novel ©2007 Errol Lincoln Uys
The Outline | The Research | The Journey |The Writing
The Journey Part Three
Rio de Janeiro September 1 —— September 21 September 1-6 After months in the North and North-East, the shock of this five-million metropolis is emotion-tattering. Accustomed to absorbing smaller, more definable places, as big as Salvador, as small as São Raimundo Nonato, one consciously tries to do the same here, little realizing that within only one or two blocks lies a similar challenge.
All the labels attached to Rio drift past me with little impact. Months ago I decided that beyond historical reference I would not become involved with ““Rio”” - a cliche that hides so much of what Brazil is (and was.)
God! The noise in this hotel! At any moment, you hear several conversations underway around you, children shouting outside, music blaring, cups clattering in a nearby kitchen, people hollering at each other, the way they “talk.”
First word association with Rio is “Carnival,” the 20th century Roman Bacchanalia. Second is football - a “forum” in the shape of 200,000-capacity Maracana Stadium. Third is Copocabana and other beaches and
their beautiful women. Okay, so maybe my mind is filled with unremitting harshness of the sertão, maybe my appreciation of “beauty” is at a different level, but I've yet to see the gorgeous women of Rio. Possibly because I see beauty as more than “flesh,” the intuitive sense that there is spirit, too, a presence and elegance. Something many Brazilian males, among the world's worst MCP's, would not see...
Not difficult to comprehend from historical point of view, for no doubt within first hours of Cabral's landing, they had their "conquests." Imagine. Some of the degredados of Europe arriving to find scores of willing Indian maidens, men who'd often spent years in prison freely offered these virgins of the forest. Girls who bathed their nakedness twice daily, who made love like unbridled creatures of the wild. Rio - the city that reached for the sky and lost its soul? I wonder. Beyond towering buildings, glittering storefronts and sweep of world-famous beaches, what is Rio? Everyone here says Rio is the greatest city in Brazil but in comparison with the greater Brazil beyond, I wonder? Take Carnival, for example: Once, long ago, it was doubtlessly a true expression of “Carnival,” of unrestricted, uninhibited festivity. Today I see it as a mask, an artificial stage for its orchestrated players. Certainly, I write these notes sitting alone in a seedy, backstreet hotel. - Got the front desk man to smile for the first time in a week.- I ask myself whether I would feel the same way if I was in a suite at the Copocabana Hotel waiting to be chauffeured to someone's villa for lunch?
I
ask that but remember, too, that I'm an observer not a participant
and have to call the shots as I find them. After sixty days
The urge to be at work on the book is an excellent sign; this feeling that this observer's tour must soon end, for I want to start writing. First, though, I'll need to throw myself into a massive reading session: Again and again, it's been made clear that many of the best sources, the most free and critically valuable records and observations from earliest times onward are the writings of foreign travelers and scholars, historic, geographic, social. Fine Brazilian writers there certainly are, but too often they're not prepared to get their hands dirty. The “brilliant intellectual and poet” type in fine gray suit and polished shoes and with special concern for what A, B or C may think and whether D, E, F will invite same scribe to their next soiree. “Men of letters,” they are called. “Men of Life,” too often, they are not. You don't live it in comfortable salons.
An alternative to the older, gray-suited “salon” type is the bizarre young intellectual who sees himself as avant-garde and tries to outdo the next man with the eccentric and the unusual. Far and few between are men of realism like Euclides da Cunha/Freyre etc. Probably because the ones that could rise toward that realism have not the opportunity, being trapped in the sea of forty-five percent illiterates.
The criticisms above are of contemporary nature but important in that past events, disasters and triumphs must of necessity build toward the keys to modern Brazil.
Reminds me - such “interruption” comes from hours of free-flow mind dredging - I was thinking earlier of perfect example of Rio-type: "LdJ," neurotic, disillusioned at 40, a poet, a fanatic devotee of the Rio cult, truly representative of those Brazilians who live in blissful isolation from so many of their brother and sisters.
I
am and will be eternally grateful for having had the sense and understanding
to start my work “up north” and avoid my deeper impressions
being clouded and obscured by places like Rio. Ask yourself
The damn radios/music/kids etc. are beginning to break into my mind so I'll leave off this entry. Almost two weeks remain in which to “discover” Rio but since I've no interest in (or money for) samba-ing my way through its stony heart I'm resolved to seek out a number of serious sources — Lacerda, Resende, a rain forest and an Indian expert, perhaps a Jesuit historian. These five objectives achieved will give me all I need and want from Rio. Remembering the brief sorties Michener and I paid to Johannesburg and Cape Town in The Covenant, I tell myself that this is precisely on track. Foolhardy to attempt going beyond the simplest physical contacts with this city as it is (and probably the same goes for São Paulo.) Much more important to stay far out there with the “people” for, in so many ways, the key to Brazil's story is the “people” and the land - the vast, encircling, intimidating land.
September 7 Brazil's Independence Day celebrated with massive military parade in several cities. Rio's was staged by 1st Army and lasted for three hours. Impressive performance by soldiers, marines, air force but perhaps indicative of Brazil today were two “special” companies: the fire brigade armed with side arms and sten-guns and a company of riot police looking like 20th century Roman gladiators with Perspex masks and body-length shields. One noticeable thing: Though all the generals and top officers are white, a very high percentage of blacks in the ranks, suggesting army is most advanced institution in “integration.”
In afternoon I walked miles from Centro to Botafogo and back to monument to World War II soldiers, where outdoor symphony concert was held to mark 159th anniversary of Cry of Ypiranga. Poorly attended probably because of chill but striking contrast to April 25 celebrations in Coimbra, Portugal - no comparison in the class and depth of the Brazilian celebration. But, as ever, preponderance of the military, their presence is exaggerated, of course, because it's “military” everything: firemen, ordinary and traffic police, even park-keepers in military-style uniform. Otherwise, somewhat dry day as these notes reflect. Plan for early night to prepare for onslaught next week.
(Next fortnight in Rio de Janeiro was devoted to interviews with contacts, among them Ambassador Antonio Fantinato Neto, historian José Hónorio Rodrigues, naval expert Max Justo Guedes, botanist Carlos T. Rizzini of the Jardim Botanico. My journal's pages are filled with excerpts from the interviews and reflections on their content. A few examples follow.)
Ambassador Fantinato Neto on difference between people of North-East and South: “A physical 'land' difference is the most important. The lands of the North-East are empty, dry, 'the drought polygon,' contrasting strongly with the green humid areas. The sertão is in many ways a “desert of people.” It is dry, overpopulated — the anti-vespera, the natural force that acts against the green — the green against the greenless, the water against the drought cycle. (Fantinato's expressions! The poet, not the diplomat talking!* = interjections in blue parenthesis are from journal, not current insertions.)
In
considering vast land difference,especially as it affects the
souls of men, must realize majority of newcomers to Amazonas are
from the North-East, Ceará, first drawn there by the rubber
boom at the turn of the century, and a second wave more recently
attracted by agricultural centers and minerals.
On industrialization of South at expense of the North: A political slogan and a feeling based on resentment of the South's success. It's not true to say that political power rests solely with the developed South. Perhaps up to 1930 there was some evidence for this with presidents coming from power centers of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The 1930 revolt broke this succession of the so-called 'milk and coffee governments' and their disproportionate hold over the rest of the country. The North-East's deprivation claim is projected on the lines of classic “metropolis and colonies” pattern, the South is the “empire” etc. utilizing the raw materials of the north in an extractive way. Socially and politically the people of the North-East want to see or argue the same pattern. “Talk of a nation with a metropolis and colonies is a great exaggeration. It's a way of simplifying things, of disguising the real inherent problems, this claim of secondary position. “They like to think of themselves as the slaves, we the masters.” It seldom functions like this and comes largely from resentment and simplification of matters.”
(The next statement stunned me!* = interjections in blue parenthesis from journal.) “Some people say there is a solution to the North-east problem: separation from Brazil.” (!) But Fantinato adds this is a great exaggeration because Brazilian nationalism was forged in the North-East. “North-East is perhaps more Brazilian than we in the South.” (!!) Conversely, São Paulo has sometimes been spoken of as a “second nation.” Once there were Paulistas who said that São Paulo should be separated, that it was providing all the money for the rest of the country, that it was the “victim” having to foot all the national bills. To truly prosper, it should be independent. Minas Gerais's reaction was typical: “If São Paulo became independent, we would be annexed to it immediately!”
On latifundia: until ten years ago, agriculture was our greatest strength but then industrialization emphasized since advent of JK (Juscelino Kubitschek) began to take precedence. Today, in São Paulo there is no latifundism; in Mato Grosso you have great cattle areas - these are not considered latifundos, the lands were empty, not cultivated, cattle raising often a spontaneous thing. To this day, the North-East has latifundia but they are in process of transformation.
(As I record all these statements, it suddenly comes to me - The Key. Could it be embodied in Alan Paton's title to his South African classic? Could the central theme to the story of Brazil be “Cry, the Beloved Country?” It's like a thunderbolt, a crystallization of so much that's been churning around in my thoughts: Cry, the Beloved Country of Brazil!)
On democracy: An awareness of democracy exists in our towns and cities, but beyond we have a huge illiterate population who don't have an idea of democracy. But the trend is toward urbanization and here people are more easily addressed through advanced communication and motivated by ideas of democracy. The great noise made about democracy in Brazil comes from fact that we have spent so long a time without it - Brazil naturally tends toward democracy. The idea of a strong Mussolini-style regime is an object of mockery in Brazil. We are not monolithic but strongly individualistic, though as “Latins,” we are prone to some criticism and some rebellion like the Spaniards. But Brazilians realize the disastrous consequences if a country as great as theirs in a South American context were to opt for dictatorship.
The Brazilian Army and the country's politicians differ in their definition of democracy. The Army speaks from the mouth and not the heart. They want democracy but don't like the noise of democracy. They don't like the conflict, tumult so far from the “peace of the cemetery.” They want democracy after “order.”
(I've rushed over the surface, I've absorbed a lot but here in Rio and São Paulo I'm at last coming to the 'depths.' On 'Cry the Beloved Country' I am reaching toward some understanding of Brazil today - the unrealized potential, the desperate rearguard action against forest and drought polygon, the tragically mistaken import of 'foreign' values - all miraculously counterbalanced by the very fact, the very existence of Brazil. Its homogeneity in the face of staggering differences; its unity in the face of immense forces that would separate it.)
On the Amazon: A literary dream to us (in context of Rio perspective)- We are proud of it; we have read about it in books. We have heard that we need to protect it. We see the river as the prototype of all rivers. But in another way, the Amazon does not tell us much because in Rio we live in close contact with the forest and landscape - real contact - which is essentially what you have up north.
Nature was from the beginning a dominant factor in Brazil. Intimately involved in a contest with it, the Brazilian is more likely to cut down a tree than to plant one. The forest is a mysterious and dangerous entity. It's luxuriance and fecundity is such that if you don't cut the trees and shrubs they will threaten and invade your house - ”Ecology” is new and an imitation of North American ideas. We always have been and we remain predators of nature. (Wonderful. Honest. True.)
Carlos T. Rizzini, Jardim Botanico A complex interview on “rain forest” types, the three major types - terra firme, the upland forest on dry sites; varzea, seasonally flooded forest; igapó, swamp forest
permanently inundated, smallest section and poor foliage; and one special 'exception:' Caatingas do Rio Negro and similar. One quote from my notes with Dr. Rizzini: “Important to distinguish between coastal forest and what we know as Amazon forest. The Atlantic forest from Rio, São Paulo, Minas Gerais is the oldest type and virtually extended from Rio Grande de Sul to Rio Grande do Norte. These Atlantic forests date to the Cretaceous period. (The geological formation is Pre-Cambrian.) The Amazon forest is much newer. The main difference lies in the Atlantic forest's number of species which is much smaller and quite definable; in the Amazon the number is so exceedingly high it's difficult to distinguish them - The Amazon forest is still in the process of evolution.”
José Hónorio Rodrigues Some preliminary thoughts on meeting with historian, Professor Rodrigues: * In comparing Brazil and U.S. essential to note that to date only five million immigrants have arrived in Brazil, one and a half million returned to their own countries, leaving 3.5 million. “In Brazil we have no ethnic minority. We have twenty million people who live very well, 'a dominant minority,' and a hundred million people who live miserably, the only division that exists in Brazil.” In the eighteen years since the 1964 coup, an important new fact has entered the Brazilian scene: immigrant sons of the first generation have begun to conquer the social scene, not through economic productivity but their political position. * Indian migration in 16th century was extensive. Anchieta spoke, for example, of disappearance of tens of thousands of Indians, not by disease alone. But treatment of Indians was savage. In Ilheus, Indians revolted against the Portuguese, again and again. To pacify them, Tomé de Sousa subdued them and selected one who was tied to the mouth of a cannon and killed. Franciscans and other priests who arrived before the Jesuits did very little or nothing for the Indians. * Not all degregados sent to Brazil were criminals. Some were more like English remittance men or exiled as a form of punishment. Francisco de Mello was one of these. - Phrase attributed to Antonil - “Brazil is the paradise of the mulatto, purgatory of the white man and hell of the Negro” - was actually De Mello's. * Slave revolts far more extensive than previously realized. Governor-General reports of 17th and 18th century abound with references to uprisings. Palmares was the first major revolt and exceptional in that it endured for decades. Troop after troop was sent against it. * At Canudos, the generals said the people were monarchists, which gave them justification for upholding the republican cause. Banditos, a more important element: Even during the Empire, there was order in the cities but lawlessness in the interior. Banditry was endemic and jagunços exploited situation.
At Canudos, Antonio Conselheiro, the Rebels, the Ruin of New Jerusalem
Max Justo Guedes Some pointers from meeting with naval historian,Max Justo Guedes:
Off subject: “Brazil's big problem is that we were once a slave country, our people were in the main slaves. Difficult to pass from slave to free-thinking people. Influence, too, of moral ideas of the degregados who wanted to become as rich as possible and return to Portugal. Indians had a different outlook on property, sex etc., status not important. Rich today act much the same way as they did in colonial times. They don't pay attention to laws because they think and often know they can buy their way out. The poor simply don't take any notice of laws.”
“Goulart was a man of mean intelligence surrounded by people whose main objective was to enrich themselves, to acquire more property, cars etc. Same problem today. Generals not used to anything find themselves in Brasilia with fine cars, houses and a lifestyle never possible nor accustomed to in army. One of the main preoccupations during the time they are in Brasília is how they're going to maintain this afterwards. So they get involved in all sorts of business deals, many shady. In '64, there was more corruption than communism.” “Disagree with people who see all priests as communists. It is not so - At Santa Barbara (country town near Max's family property), there are kids who go for a week eating nothing but mangos. Mayor does nothing to help the poor. Only person who does a thing to help them is the priest.”
September 20 The argument and consensus reached with Antonietta last night, a glorious two hour debate, brought me closer to clarity of my ideas about Brazil and cleared any doubts that may have arisen about her feelings of true Brazilian nationalism. What she doesn't realize is that the hours of dialogue forced me toward a truly independent understanding of Brazil and its problems, one divorced from cliches of my own and from hers, e.g. “dominant ideology” (or my misreading of this.) At last I feel for Brazil in same way I feel for South Africa, although I accept the caution that no matter how deep or perceptive that feeling, I am not a Brazilian.
*When she speaks of dominant ideology, she doesn't differentiate between East or West; she speaks of any outside ideology that attempts directly or indirectly to impose itself on Brazil (or any other country for that matter.) She is concerned about Brazil's lack of independence in sense of falling prey to the East-West conflict and, more important, in the imposition of outside ideology be it political, folkloric, lifestyle on Brazil. It's the much spoken of “Brazilian solution” but expounded with brilliance and depth and sincerity. It is also, one sadly realizes, the approach of a true idealist for that world is such that nations cannot exist in vacuo, but her ideas are, of all I've heard about Brazil, the best. Some of her points and my thoughts on them:
Cinelandia Protestors slain, April 1, 1964 Military police and students clash, 1968 Rio de Janeiro's Street Photos from the archives of Ultima Hora, Fundacao Perseu Abramo
September 21 (continued) One wonders, with the military marching the nation deeper into the U.S. orbit, with its chronic dependencies as evidenced by the world's biggest foreign debt - whether Brazil is perhaps further away than ever from “independence?” As noted last night, I see nothing wrong with multinational development but everything wrong with multinational exploitation. As base, take classic sugar plantation: the great landlords controlling vast estates: project the same image on a world basis and the country becomes a “latifundia” with the coronels and fazendeiros be they in São Paulo, New York, Germany continuing the same process: vast multinational latifundia built on the tradition of centuries of intensive “farming” of Brazil. Their activities, of course, may have nothing to do with farming, only in figurative sense.
Lincoln Gordon's “fateful blow” may have been just that for in postponing the inevitable “reform” it added fuel to the disenchantment of the masses. It made their situation “16 years” worse and when the time comes for them or their sons to flex their muscles they could be that much more intractable, that much more against North America which they may come to see, with justification, as the “block” to their advance.
Oh, the parallels with South Africa! The blacks striving for freedom and wanting desperately not be to aligned with anyone but driven to the East-bloc through the West's preoccupation with the establishment. The building up, decade by decade, of frustrations. The slow, agonizing struggle to free themselves. Small wonder Antonietta sees Brazil as the “South Africa of South America," not simply on a racial basis which though bearing some comparison is weak but on its overall positioning, its people's striving for independence and their being so often frustrate by outside interests.
To speak of education as a key is correct, but it must include broad, adult-oriented education, not in the Three R's which is too late for many but in developing a sense of existence freed from a “slave mentality,” from the paternalistic hold on millions. — This is essentially Antonietta's program, with which I still find fault believing there has to be grass roots tutelage or, ultimately, the product will wither and die.
Again, you have to ask yourself whether as happened in South Africa, there's a deliberate attempt to hold back the education of masses, a fear of giving them knowledge (and the power that will threaten the establishment). One has only to consider the Verwoerdian speeches and polices, Verwoerd's talk of blacks being hewers of wood and drawers of water etc, and a similar possibility arises. It would be very difficult to get a Brazilian to admit this directly and there are probably no written statements but there is a tradition of “keeping the peasants in their place;” of accepting the souls of the sertão as lost and hopeless. Were you to develop this line of thought, you'd come to see why there is a real need to keep the “illiterate” 45 per cent away from the ballot box, why there is a fear of priests who go about informing the backlanders...
On '64 to '81: Today's opposition is older, wiser, more cautions, and by experience more prepared. Again, consider the phases of the liberation struggle in South Africa, the late 50s belief in a hasty revolution that would overthrow the regime, the total failure of this, the two and half decades of regrouping and the split (in sense of some genuinely working with regime for reform,) the preparation for the final assault with knowledge that it's going to take a long time but that ultimately, the vast gap is going to be closed...
And, all, as always returns to Cry, the Beloved Brazil.
São Paulo September 22 — October 6
My first week in São Paulo was spent with my historian friend Antonietta de Aguiar Nunes from Salvador, who was attending a conference in the city. She showed me the historical São Paulo as I would never have been able to see myself - Bandeirante, Jesuit, “coronel,” sons and daughters of Empire, we followed the tracks of all in museums and at sites around the city, while continuing our exhaustive discussions and debates on the “Brazilian thing.”
The Bandeirante House
September 27: -- With John and Julie Tilley (names changed) at a fazenda in the rolling hills of Tietêª. Weekend spent with this friendly American couple and friends, Ruth and Peter and Frida Ramirez (*ditto)from U.S. consulate in São Paulo. Does one good to spend time with reps of "domninant ideology" after so much local exposure. Some contradictions worth thought: Why, for example, is is possible for Tilleys to turn 250 hectares into a profitable multipurpose farm supporting 200 head of cattle? Why is it possible for multinationals to make success of farming in many arid areas, whereas whenever Brazilian government gets involved in operation it is run down by bureaucracy? Apparent failure over centuries if compared with rapid success of immigrant Italians, Syrians etc? Was staggered to learn of 300,000 hectare sugar estates in São Paulo area: same exploitive attitude toward land as ever, transferred from north to south. On multinationals, worth looking at conflict between nationalist desire to be rid of them and real need for their research and example etc.
September 29 Have had a day for reflection on last weekend: despite Tilleys' sincerity and obvious good works on the fazenda, I cannot get away from the feeling of spending time with “colonials.” They've been here for twenty years, have obviously worked very hard at their 250-hectare holding, and have brought up their children in Brazil. Yet they talk with and show the same prejudices of most Americans, particularly when guard is dropped at cocktail hour. The distance becomes apparent on a visit to town on first night of festival of St. Benedict - I found it curious that as we walked through town, there wasn't a single local whom John or Julie greeted or stopped to speak with. It was incomprehensible, really, in the town where they lived for several years, not one person greeted them and vice versa.
Driving back with Ruth and Peter, journey was occupied with discussion of the “good America” image and reflections on why Brazilians have screwed up things and continue to do so; on “pinkies,” as Ruth calls them. On and on until we're nearly home and Ruth finally admits, Glory be, that she can see millions of people are deprived and things must be done to help them. She says she is worried about their “breaking things.” (quebra-quebra.)
You cannot ignore what John has achieved on his farm but neither can you ignore fact that he has a) knowledge and b) access to it. As I said earlier, it was a depressing weekend and certainly my last serious contact with estrangeiros living here. Back to the Brazilians!
Am beginning to get restless. I feel quality of “discovery” is waning and that I must get down to specific research and writing. I have a broad grasp of Brazil, far more detailed and perceptive than when I started out, but I must begin to apply this. The gaps that remain are enormous but can be filled at home. Approaching the 90th day of this voyaging, I feel I am reaching the limits of absorption and must soon begin to release all that's been crammed into my head. Say half a dozen interviews and I will be ready - plus redoing my outline in light of all these “discoveries.”
September 29 With historian, Fernão Novaes, who is working on book on slavery in colonial times, with special reference to period when Portuguese and others became conscious of evils of slavery and raised questions about it. (vide Viera, Manoel Ribeira da Rocha.)
Novaes theorizes that it is the slave trade, the economics of it that explains slavery, and not the other way around. Agrees that important questions remain unasked about Brazilian slavery. Why, for example, was there no breeding of slaves? Notes that most studies of slavery relate to 19th century and findings of that period are transposed to previous centuries. Circumstances might not be the same.
The
U.S. form of slavery was totally “independent” in sense
that it From the beginning, manumission was seen as a good thing, as a way toward saving the owner's soul. The idea of full Christianization of the slave, other than simple act of baptism and saving of slave's soul, came with the Methodists and not before. In Brazil/Catholic sense, the Christianizing was usually superficial. (Picture: Capoeira, Dance of War, by Johann Moritz Rugendas, 1835) Fernão agonizes over question of Brazilian identity: “The Mexican seeks an identity divorced from the Spanish in his Aztec heritage. Similarly, the Peruvian will claim a line to his Inca forbears. Indo-American culture, even if an illusion, is important - Brazilian identity exists but is difficult to conceptualize in similar terms. It is peripheral, not European, not centralized and yet clearly different from Latin America.” - "Yet,” says Fernão, "in the U.S., I feel Latin American but in Europe, France or England, I feel Brazilian!”
On contemporary politics: After the 1969-74 repression, a new force emerged based on a) syndicates who mobilized very differently b) a totally new church different from the past. (Symbolism: priest saying mass with back to people; today he faces them as he faces the problems of his nation.) Moved toward independent opposition as they were turned off by Communists + disturbed by lack of a democratic base, always worried by aspects of totalitarianism and authoritarianism. (Aside: Lula visited Lech Walenska, who warned him to stay out of politics; Lula said that to progress he had to have political base.) Between '69-'74, Church was only voice of opposition. “Never forget importance of church in Brazil. Political parties look to the next election, the church does not. It has until Judgment Day to carry out its work.” ( Excellent point!)
Fernão is in general agreement with ELU observations on 'colonization'/ INCRA's Amazon disaster/failure of private enterprise to create opportunities for underprivileged in the new regions/internal colonization of Brazil/re-establishment of latifundia. He seems more optimistic about positive elements that emerged in the military since 1974 and have led to “abertura”/agrees on the pressure-cooker theory/ and, above all, agrees on the naivety of U.S. policy toward Brazil (as in South Africa) which may offer short-term benefits but in long term can alienate majority of Brazilians and create an irreparable break between the two giants of America.
October 3 Missing entries but not quality of impressions! Today met for four hours with Luis Hafers, one of the great financiers of Brazil, just back from Washington where he negotiated a $60 million factory loan. He is a cousin of Eduardo Suplicy (interviewed previous day) A director of Matarazzo empire, owns coffee estate near Santos (calls himself a Santanista ), two farms in Amapa (2000 cattle) and Acre, fishing interest in Salvador, cotton trading business. Lived in very close family atmosphere - they go back 400 years — until he visited Alaska (!), first outside experience, “then went on to discover Brazil!” A handsome, slender man who plays polo, travels widely, well read.
Luis relates stories of his experience in the North-East and appears genuinely aware of the problems. He remembers times of drought and droves of people streaming into town in Piauí, where family owned ranch. “They were quiet, very quiet because of their hunger.” Tells anecdote of sharing bowl of manioc with poverty-stricken blind violinist.
He has strong words against people who talk of “lazy North-Easterners” - If one of his Caterpillars has no fuel, no energy, it won't operate, he says by way of illustration. So, too, if one of his workers has no energy, insufficient food, he will be unable to work.
To Luis, key to Brazil's future lies in education. “Property will not yield power in Brazil anymore - education will. Even though education is backward, it is still a bigger force.”
Says São Paulo is a meritocracy, talks of power of Minas Gerais political bosses. Regards his cousin Eduardo as honest man pursuing hopeless ideals for PT; Lula etc. No effective platform and talk only in vague terms.
Brazil's progress bedeviled by bureaucrats who are conceited and intellectually dishonest. Says Brazil needs a Teddy Roosevelt who'll say “Let's do it” and the nation will get on with the task. Agrees land situation is a mess and says Brazil needs a Land Act. “There is enough good land for all, distribution is delayed by bureaucracy and its endless studies/tests etc.” But cerrado is not for the small farmer, a highly technical, complex land area.
Talks vehemently and with passion against priests, who he calls S-O-B's. He sees political priests as morally dishonest, “the poor man's Richelieu.” Does not believe that they're honest in their motives but merely seek to build the power of the church.
His anger against priests surfaced several times and he foresees a confrontation between them and the state. It happened in Dom Pedro II's time, he says, and he disposed of the question effectively and so it will be again. A confirmed churchgoer he regards religion as a very personal matter.
Speaks freely about his black ancestry, says Brazil essentially of Portuguese and African heritage with little other influence. Sensitive about question of lack of opportunity for blacks, quickly denying there is racism...
On Brazilian “independence,” accepts importation of technology etc. as necessary but in other areas, agriculture and “culture” proper, Brazilians must work it out for themselves. Describes those who talk about socialism for Brazil as “ pamphliteros.” I sense that deep down while accepting “cheap” money for Brazil from outside, he resents it and would prefer Brazil to go it alone.
Belo Horizonte Vila Rica de Ouro Preto October 4 — October 8
Vila Rica de Ouro Preto
October 8 Another Rodoviária! At least I can begin to think of it as “almost the last.” Only one more trip remains from Salvador to Rio and home.
Wonder what these people around me think of this foreigner sitting here scribbling away? I catch glances I cannot read. Of interest or envy? Or simple wonderment that someone should voyage so far... These bus stations are equal to thriving airports U.S.-style It's difficult to say whether Brazil's policy of abandoning rail in favor of road was wise or not. Agreed, the decision was taken before oil price bust, but fact is it gets people moving at remarkably low cost.
Nearly two hours before departure of bus, find myself with 260cr. to get me to Bahia and Antonietta's doorstep. So while I wait let me take the time to wrestle with some of the “problems” that crept in recently, perhaps not so much problems as starting blocks.
Would it be valuable to show a) how society came together in the model cast for it by Gilbert Freyre, the formation of “Luso-Tropical” man. And while accepting this fusion as a fact to go on to propose and examine b) how and why it was split into the upper class who control the oligarchy and the power and the rest? So that with the South African experience in mind, you find that a visit to a favela can be described in precise the same terms you would use for a sojourn in Soweto. Be careful, I caution myself, not to overdo the division. At the same time, you cannot ignore it, especially in coming to terms with the realities of Brazilian society found as you worked your way from bottom to top. (Contrast with all the past travelers here, their remembrances of days and nights in the Casa Grandes of Brazil!)
Could it be possible that while pursuing an intellectually honest path in his sociological research in the 1930s, Gilberto Freyre created a myth? That his simple interpretation of masters and slaves, casa grande e senzala, actually hid many of the realities of Brazilian society? That in accepting the uncluttered concept of paternalism on the plantation (and patriarchalism within the casa grande,) we ignore the situation of the population living beyond the plantation, the majority represented by the marginalized society of today? That there we find a divergent class structure as rigidly separated (by custom not law) as in South Africa? That transition from one level to another is as difficult as in the past and becoming more difficult? This needs more thought.
One thing that has long bothered me about the Cardoso/da Silva line-up (my fictional families, later "Cavalcantis" and da Silvas) is that after the initial and obvious divergences they tend to become “look-alikes.” Their lifestyle and situation in Brazil is so similar as to make them representative of that small, traditional upper crust. Since, as explained to Antonietta, I'm troubled by the absence of a black family and need to demonstrate the division of Brazilian society, it becomes apparent that the da Silvas (or whatever they're called) should fill this important role in a natural way (not contrived as, for example, with a fall from grace.)If they are going to represent the "other" Brazil, they must do so in the ordinary way that leads so many of Brazil's sons and daughters to being second/third-class citizens in the land of their birth. (In the manuscript, the da Silvas remained the quintessential Bandeirante/Paulista family. António Paciéncia, Patient Anthony, and his heirs represent the black family I envisaged here. See the excerpt "A Brazilian Boy's Walk to Slavery which in introduces António's story.)
OK, let's wrestle with “keys” to the shackles... (1) Man and the Land: Nowhere on so gigantic a scale has man confronted the challenge of the land or been faced by it. In the U.S. equally large, man was early on able to come to terms with the land, to advance little by little and adjust to it. (Remember, many of those newcomers to vast North America also originated from countries as small as Portugal.) In Brazil, for reasons not all clear, the fear of the land, the inaccessibility of it, restricted man's advance. When it happened it was, as so recently shown again, chaotic.
I pose these ingredients to my theme of “land” in question form and while few could be answered simply all are tied together.
(2) Identity: The Brazilians' search for an identity of their own, cultural, national, personal - The answer to the question, “What is an Englishman?” “An Italian?” "A Portuguese?” is relatively unproblematic - but try posing that question in relation to a Brazilian and you'll have difficulty formulating a reply. He has been around longer than the Americans, the Afrikaners, the Australians and yet cannot be readily identified. Why? An intriguing question offering an important theme the book should answer.
(3) Independence: Alongside the quest for identity is the issue of independence. U.S. “won” its independence from the mother country. Fact is, Brazil never won its independence through foment or struggle but was handed it, as so many other things, so the oft-prided statement of being an “evolutionary” country raises some difficult questions. To this day, though its sovereign “border” is guaranteed, is it truly independent or does it go on inviting one or another type of “colonization?” From this you can argue in several valuable directions: Do the Brazilians see themselves as something in the nature of the world's stepchildren, always waiting for someone above to straighten things out?
Within each of these major themes/questions are many minor ones and from each there leads a sad consequence. - The land: latifundia, monoculture, greed, selfishness; The identity: almost discovered, almost unified and torn asunder by greed, by rapacity and the formation of class society; The independence: nearly “won” via Inconfidência, then “lost” via the handout of Empire, further “sold” to colonializing interests such as U.K. and finally, the multinationals. All back to square one, weep for the beloved Brazil.
Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, October 14 — October 24
October 15 My latest Brazilian experience: At 1.23 a.m. this morning returning from a Candomble feast I was held up at gunpoint and robbed of watch and glasses (!) Two hours later in a gun battle between police and robbers, one was shot and arrested, two others got away. After 100 days in Brazil and 20,000 relatively carefree kilometers, greet this incident with mixed emotions. Very real, very unreal.
After
attending Candomble ceremony at Casa Branca that ended around 12.30
a.m., Antonietta and I During day we'd argued over three “human nature” (evil) aspects of my plot. Walking along now, talking about people's “benevolent” nature, I challenge what I see as somewhat blinkered view of essential good in people. Up ahead I see yellow car come to stop at side of road. Instinctively know that something's not right. See back door opening and man climbing out,and then a second man. As man steps toward me I see large black gun in his hand. Tell Antonietta who has similar pistoleiro advancing on her not to resist. Mine asks for money. I've none but he sees my watch. Gestures with gun for me to take it off. Do so, swiftly. He frisks me. I've tight jeans on and nothing in my pockets. I'd run out of exchange dollars (Thank God.) Antonietta's bag taken, including six copies of Daily Post with feature story on ELU. She starts asking pistoleiros to return papers, keys, documents. Not sure of what happened next but see police car approach on opposite side of street. Robbers still talking with Antonietta. I run over to police. Indicate that we've been robbed. Clearly, I am an estrangeiro in trouble in a bad district. What do police do. Drive off!!!
After police and robbers have gone off in opposite directions, we start walking toward Antonietta's mother's house. Panicky moment as car races up behind us, so decide to look for taxi. Equally unnerving since bus driver had earlier warned about “robber-taxis” operating late at night. Find reasonably honest-looking driver and go to mother's house for duplicate keys and taxi money.
No idea of sleep since we realize robbers had address and house keys. Antonietta phones police headquarters to report robbery and told to come into office in the morning. Sit talking about “human nature” (definitely evil,) when phone rings and we are summoned to district police HQ.
At 3 a.m. police confronted the robbers in a second stolen car. Gunfire exchanged. One robber shot across chest, arm and in leg. One policeman shot in shoulder. Second policeman hit in leg. Two robbers got away.
At police station, we are asked to participate in procedure known as “inflagrante” (same as delicto, I suppose!) According to Antonietta, it means that if a criminal is positively identified by victim within 24 hours, the same as if caught in the act.
I remember clearly the swaggering 5' 6” gun-toting thug who stepped over to me on Sapateiros. I recognize him as he's shoved into the office with battered face and obvious signs of a beating. He immediately confesses that we were two of people robbed (there were several other incidents that night by same mob.) Asks Antonietta to tell police that they didn't harm us, which she does. Asks me for a cigarette, which I refuse. He is taken away.
At this time, another criminal is brought in to office. One detective has a two-inch thick stick with which he proceeds to lambaste him in front of us. Told to return at 9 for official charge. Takes two hours and includes signing document attesting to “identity parade.” No such parade took place but since positive ID of my attacker and he “agreed” it was us, not going to make issue. Police tell us that the three robbers included “Penguim,” (my attacker) and “Negronino do Religioso.” They stole yellow Brasília first, then swapped for blue vehicle. Attacked another couple after us and took the girl hostage; did not assault her and later dropped her some distance away.
Only slowly does it seep through one's mind that the robbers' guns were loaded and they were ready to use them. In retrospect I'm infinitely grateful that the police car that arrived on the scene had two dumb cops, for no doubt a gunfight would've ensued with us in the middle.
I suppose that 100th day in Brazil without such an “event” too good to expect.
Last week in Salvador is proving the most exhausting of all, as I wrestle with the problems of plotting. I feel quiet joy over the knowledge that home is but ten days away, suddenly truly tired of all this roaming.
This penultimate week in Brazil has indeed been a peculiar one, not alone for facing part of it at the point of a .38, but for the exhausting debate with Antonietta, a true Brazilian nationalist and idealist.
I find that instead of sympathizing with her stand on “Brazilianization” which I support, I'm turned off by notion of placing just about everything that's wrong with Brazil on the back of North America. I was prepared to accept this up to a realistic and objective point but there came a moment where I found it plain ridiculous: the forest, the poverty, the revolution, the failure of Brazilian industrialists to develop their potential, the fracturing of Brazilian culture, the importation of alien foods, everything is the fault of “dominant North American ideology.” Certainly a great amount of blame in several areas can be attributed to this but to see the people of Brazil as some future “China” or “Albania” (sic) of South America is to deny the desires and hopes of what may be the majority, and to deny the enormous industrial and technological progress that has been achieved.
The kind of world envisaged may well lie in the future but for the present we are stuck with the “ugly” existence we have, with its emphasis on the individual and not some collective utopian ideal. There is much I agree with, but I am disturbed by a lack of objectivity, the pamphleteering, as Luis Hafers called it.
Antonietta's sympathy for the “poor,” as she calls the man who held me up, is Christian, forgiving and noble but I cannot escape knowledge that the gun that was pointed at my guts, two hours later was used to shoot two policemen. The latter also seen as wicked, non-civic-minded types who delight in persecuting the Penguims of this world. Antonietta has a fine intellectual mind but sadly, a one-sided view: Be a Brazilian nationalist first but don't base that nationalism solely on “hatred for a common enemy.”
October 22 A beginning and an end! Here I am seated at Rio International Airport, 10.15 p.m. for flight home at 11.15 p.m. There is an element of unreality, just as at the beginning, way back there on Sintra Station in Portugal. A hectic last night dinner in luxury Rio apartment overlooking Copacabana Beach. Could not have been a better finale for it gave me a final glimpse of life “a la Rio.” Incredible statements from people such as, “Where is the sertão?” from my hostess, who lives a world away from the reality of Brazil.
I mentioned a “beginning and an end” - this is the latter but also a beginning for I now embark on the most exciting part of the book: The writing! There is a sense of having achieved what I came here for, of having “Brasil” within me. Tinged with a little fear for the task ahead. No, not fear but an awesome appreciation of the Reality. With “success” comes an exhilaration at having achieved this enormous voyage: No matter how long the road ahead, it can and will be traveled, as surely as I traveled thousands of estradas, asphalt or otherwise; as surely as I found my way into the minds and friendships of so many Brazilians. To THE WRITING
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of
travel, thought, talk, personal “debate” I'm also arriving
at some critical observations of Brazil. They are criticisms that
give me an urge to write and share with my readers, to let them
know far more than they've ever imagined about this green paradise/hell...
why
Michener chose a small town like Centennial to tell the story of
two hundred years of the USA? Precisely why the Cardosos (Cavalcantis)
and da Silvas will stay away from the house of LdJ and the
likes! Or they might as well be Brazilians living in New York and
chatting about the old days for all the feel and sense it would
give a reader of Brazil's past. 
existed in the U.S. south alone and was not tied into a wider mother
country. In Brazil there was no breeding, no independent operation.
What
if in the American mind, Canada's frozen north was a major part
of the U.S.? What effect would that unconquerable domain have had
on the national psyche, as the Amazon has had on the mind of the
Brazilian? How do the countries of North Africa look upon the Sahara?
How important was early Portuguese colonial attitude toward Brazil?
How influenced were they by the humanist and romantic interpretation
of Brazil - the “Paradise Found” school? Has the land's
vastness diluted the spirit of European man in the tropics? What
are the essential qualities,/drives of man the predator in relation
to the forest? 
walked
to bus stop. Caught bus at one and dropped at Sapateiros around
1.15 a.m. Broke one of my cardinal rules in avoiding trouble in
truly decadent area: Gut feeling told me to take $1 taxi ride to
Antonietta's house but she said no, it was safe.(Right:
Candomble,by Didito, 1990)