Jorge Amado is one of the best known Brazilian authors and the most translated one. His
novels are still considered as a portrait of Brazil in the sense that they show not only the hard life of people from Bahia, but also they emphasize most of the stereotypes attributed to Brazilians. His engagement with the Brazilian literary movement called Regionalism led him to make his native land Bahia the scenery for his fiction and to incorporate in his works words closely related to the local speech. Such characteristics made Jorge Amado´s novels a very difficult work to be translated, since most of the local vocabulary, specially those related to religion, nature, social relationships and sensations or descriptions associated with the human body, seem to have no equivalence in other languages and consequently in other cultures.
Although Brazil is the world's largest Roman Catholic nation, Amado wrote extensively
and respectfully of the deities and rites of Candomblé, an African-derived religion
widely practiced in Brazil. In terms of cultural importance, Amado’s works seem to be the entrance door to the Brazilian culture.
Source: by Regina Helena M. A. CORRÊA
Last year, to celebrate the centenary of his birth, there were events taking place throughout Brazil and also in cities like London, Paris, Salamanca and Lisbon.
Following are some of his works:
- The Country of Carnival (O País do Carnaval, 1931)
- Cacau (1933)
- Sweat (Suor, 1934)
- Jubiabá (1935)
- Sea of Death (Mar Morto, 1936)
- Captains of the Sands (Capitães da Areia, 1937)
- The Knight of Hope (Vida de Luis Carlos Prestes or O Cavaleiro da Esperança, 1942)
- The Violent Land (Terras do Sem Fim, 1943)
- The Golden Harvest (São Jorge dos Ilhéus, 1944)
- Red Field (Seara Vermelha, 1946)
- The Bowels of Liberty trilogy (Os Subterrâneos da Liberdade, 1954)
- Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon (Gabriela, Cravo e Canela, 1958)
- The Two Deaths of Quincas Wateryell (A Morte e a Morte de Quincas Berro Dágua, 1959)
- Home Is the Sailor (Os Velhos Marinheiros ou o Capitão de Longo Curso, 1961)
- Ogum's Compadre (O compadre de Ogum, 1964)
- Shepherds of the Night (Os Pastores da Noite, 1964)
- Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos, 1966)
- Tent of Miracles (Tenda dos Milagres, 1969)
- Tereza Batista: Home from the Wars (Teresa Batista Cansada da Guerra, 1972)
- Tieta (Tieta do Agreste, 1977)
- Pen, Sword, Camisole (Farda Fardão Camisola de Dormir, 1979)
- Showdown (Tocaia Grande, 1984)
- The War of the Saints (O Sumiço da Santa, 1988)
- Coasting (Navegação de Cabotagem, 1992)
- The Discovery of America by the Turks (A Descoberta da América pelos Turcos, 1994)
If you are in Salvador, Bahia, it is worth visiting the JORGE AMADO FOUNDATION
