Queer Places:
Rua Aluísio Azevedo - João XXIII, Fortaleza - CE, Brazil
Aluísio Tancredo Gonçalves de Azevedo (14 April 1857 – 21 January 1913) was
a Brazilian novelist, caricaturist, diplomat, playwright and short story
writer. Initially a Romantic writer, he would later adhere to the Naturalist
movement. He introduced the Naturalist movement in Brazil with the novel O
Mulato, in 1881. Adolfo Caminha's Bom-Crioulo
(1895; The Good Nigger) is the first Latin American novel to deal with
homosexuality as a theme, while Aluisio Azevedo's O Cortiço (1890; The
Tenement) contains the first scene of lesbian seduction and lesbian acts.
Azevedo founded and occupied the 4th chair of the
Brazilian Academy of Letters from 1897 until his death in 1913.
Azevedo was born in
São Luís, to David Gonçalves de Azevedo (the Portuguese
vice-consul in Brazil) and Emília Amália Pinto de Magalhães. He was the
younger brother of the famous playwright
Artur Azevedo.
As a child, Aluísio would work as a
traveling salesman. Since then, he loved painting and drawing, and would
move to
Rio de Janeiro in 1876 (where his brother Artur was living already), to
study at the
Escola Nacional de Belas Artes. After graduating, he drew
caricatures for
journals
such as O Fígaro, O Mequetrefe, Zig-Zag and A Semana
Ilustrada.
His father's death, in 1878, made him return to São Luís, in order to take
care of his family. He then initiated his writer career, publishing in 1880 a
typical
Romantic novel, Uma Lágrima de Mulher. He helps on the creation of
an
anticlerical journal named O Pensador, where he wrote
Abolitionist articles. In 1881 he publishes the first Brazilian
Naturalist novel ever:
O Mulato,
that deals with the themes of racism. Consolidating his career as a writer, he
could return to Rio.
He would write endlessly during the period of 1882-1895. Also dating from
this period are his famous novels
Casa de Pensão (1884) and
O Cortiço
(1890), as well as many other works written in partnership with his brother or
with Émile Rouède.
In 1895 he became a diplomat. He served as a
minister in Spain, Japan, England, Italy and
Argentina,
where he died.
My published books:
BBACK TO HOME PAGE
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alu%C3%ADsio_Azevedo
- Sexual Textualities: Essays on Queer/ing Latin American Writing
David William Foster
University of Texas Press, Dec 6, 2013