José Américo de Almeida (1887-1980) was a Brazilian writer and politician. His work “A Bagaceira”, started the Regionalist Generation of the Northeast. He was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters on October 27, 1966, occupying chair number 38. He was also a lawyer, university professor, folklorist and sociologist.
José Américo de Almeida (1887-1980) was born in the Olho d’Água mill, municipality of Areias, Paraíba, on January 10, 1887. At the age of nine, with the death of his father, he was entrusted to the care of his uncle, Father Odilon Benvindo. He studied at the Liceu Paraibano.
He moved to Recife, where he entered the Faculty of Law, completing the course in 1908. He was a prosecutor in the district of Recife and in the district of Sousa, in Paraíba.
Biografia de José Américo de Almeida
In 1928 he published “A Bagaceira”, a novel that made him nationally known, starting the Regionalist Generation of the Northeast. The title of this novel refers to the place where the sugarcane bagasse is gathered in the mill.
Figuratively, it can indicate an “unimportant object”, or even “miserable people”. In the preface, the author expresses his amazement at the reality of the Northeast: “There is a greater misery than dying of hunger in the desert: it is not having anything to eat in the land of Canaan”.
The main character of the novel “A Bagaceira” is Lúcio, a university student and the son of a mill owner. From him, the plot is organized in two planes.
In the first, the author portrays the observations and analysis of rural life, in the face of the sertanejos who flee the drought, temporarily employ themselves in the mills, being compared to the permanent workers of the mill; collective ignorance and misery. In the second, he tells of a love affair involving the retreatant Soledade, Lúcio and his father, Dagoberto.
José Américo de Almeida devoted himself to politics, and was governor of Paraíba. During his term he founded the Federal University of Paraíba and was appointed its first rector. In the government of Getúlio Vargas, he was appointed Minister of Roads and Public Works and Minister of the Federal Court of Auditors.
José Américo de Almeida died in João Pessoa on March 10, 1980.
Works of José Américo de Almeida
- Reflexões de Uma Cabra, ensaio, 1922
- A Paraíba e Seus Problemas, 1923
- A Bagaceira, romance, 1928
- O Ministério da Viação no Governo Provisório, 1933
- O Ciclo Revolucionário no Ministério da Viação, 1934
- O Boqueirão, romance, 1935
- Coiteiros, romance, 1935
- A Palavra e o Tempo, ensaio, 1937-45-50-65
- As Secas no Nordeste, 1953
- Ocasos de Sangue, ensaio, 1954
- Discursos do Seu Tempo, 1964-1965
- O Anjo Negro, ensaios, 1967
- Graça Aranha, O Doutrinador, memórias, 1968
- Eu e Eles, memórias, 1970
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