Álvares de Azevedo
| Álvares de Azevedo | |
|---|---|
 A picture of Azevedo taken during the late 1840s | |
| Born |
Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo 12 September 1831 São Paulo City, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Died |
25 April 1852 (aged 20) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
Resting place | Cemitério São João Batista, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Other names | Job Stern |
| Alma mater | Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo |
| Occupation | Poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist, Law student |
| Notable work(s) | Lira dos Vinte Anos, Noite na Taverna, Macário |
| Parents |
Inácio Manuel Álvares de Azevedo Maria Luísa Mota Azevedo |
Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo (September 12, 1831 – April 25, 1852) was a Brazilian Romantic poet, short story writer, playwright and essayist. Adept of what was called in Brazil "Ultra-Romanticism", his work is characterized by heavy dualism and morbidity, what gave him the epithet of "the Brazilian Lord Byron".
He is the patron of the second chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, and of the ninth chair of the Paulista Academy of Letters.
Biography
Azevedo was born into a wealthy family in São Paulo City, on September 12, 1831. Son of Law student Inácio Manuel Álvares de Azevedo and Maria Luísa Azevedo (née Mota), popular belief says that he was born in the library of the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo, but he was actually born on the farmhouse of his maternal grandfather, Severo Mota. He also had a younger brother, Inácio Manuel, Jr., but he died prematurely in 1835. The death proved to be an early source of shock for the young Álvares.
In 1833, Álvares moved with his family to Rio de Janeiro, and in 1840 he entered the Colégio Stoll in the bairro of Botafogo, being an excellent student. In 1844, he temporarily returned to São Paulo with his uncle, going back to Rio in the following year, where he entered the Colégio Pedro II.
Having graduated in 1846 from the Colégio Pedro II, he entered the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo in the following year, where he befriended the poets José Bonifácio the Younger (the grandnephew of famous Brazilian statesman José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva), Aureliano Lessa and Bernardo Guimarães. Alongside these poets, he founded the mythical "Sociedade Epicureia" ("Epicurean Society"), a club that promoted Epicureanism and Bohemianism as lifestyles, and he also planned a work in partnership with Lessa and Guimarães: the poetry book As Três Liras (in English: The Three Lyres). However, the project did not come to fruition; the only remaining part of the project today is the book Lira dos Vinte Anos. He also founded in 1849 the official magazine of the Sociedade Ensaio Filosófico Paulistano, which lasted until 1856.
Because of his fragile health and the murky weather of São Paulo, Azevedo contracted tuberculosis. He was obligated to quit his Law course, and moved to his grandfather's farm in Rio in order to mitigate his disease; there he fell from a horse and contracted a severe inflammation on his iliac fossa that resulted in his death at 20 on April 25, 1852. He was buried one day later at the Cemitério São João Batista. His last words before his death were "What a fatality, my father!".
Works
Due to his premature death, all of Álvares' works were published posthumously.
- Lira dos Vinte Anos (1853 — poetry anthology)
- Macário (1855 — theatre play)
- Noite na Taverna (1855 — short story book, under pen name Job Stern)
- O Conde Lopo (1886 — an epic poem that remains only in fragments today)
Álvares also wrote many letters and essays, and translated into Portuguese Lord Byron's poem "Parisina" and William Shakespeare's Othello's fifth act.
References
- ALVES, Maria C. R. O Poeta-Leitor: Um Estudo das Epígrafes Hugoanas em Álvares de Azevedo. USP, 1999.
- CUNHA, Cilaine Alves. O Belo e o Disforme. EDUSP, 2000.
- CUNHA, Cilaine Alves. Entusiasmo Indianista e Ironia Byroniana. EDUSP, 2000.
External links
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Portuguese Wikisource has original text related to this article: |
- Álvares de Azevedo's biography at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Portuguese)
- About the Epicurean Society (Portuguese)
| Preceded by New creation |
 Brazilian Academy of Letters - Patron of the 2nd chair |
Succeeded by Coelho Neto (founder) |
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