Monteiro Lobato (1882-1948) was a pre-modernist Brazilian writer and editor. Considered one of the greatest authors of children's stories, his best known work is The Sítio do Picapau Amarelo, consisting of 23 volumes.
Monteiro Lobato Biography
Photo by Monteiro Lobato
Monteiro Lobato was born in Taubaté, São Paulo, on April 18, 1882. Since he was a boy he already showed his restless temperament.
At the age of 13, he went to study in São Paulo. Registered José Renato Monteiro Lobato, he decided to change his name, as he wanted to use his father's cane, who had died in 1898.
The cane had the initials J B M L engraved on the top of the knob. So he changed his name and was renamed José Bento, so that his initials would be the same as his father's.
In 1904 he graduated in Law from the Faculty of São Paulo. That same year he returned to Taubaté where he met Maria Pureza Natividade, whom he married a year after being appointed public prosecutor in the city of Areias, in 1907.
At that time he painted and wrote articles for newspapers in Rio, Santos and São Paulo. Later he wrote “
dead cities”, book that portrays the agony of the almost abandoned city.He remained in Areias until 1911, when his grandfather, Visconde de Tremembé, died, leaving him a farm in Taubaté, where he moved.
In 1917, he sells the farm and moves to Caçapava. At that time, he dedicated himself definitively to literature and founded the magazine Paraíba, then closed.
He moves to São Paulo, collaborates with Magazine of Brazil, transforming it into a nucleus for the defense of national culture.
He founded the Monteiro Lobato printing house, which was closed in 1924. Companhia Editora Nacional sells its share in 1927 and founds the Brazilian publisher, in partnership with friends.
That same year he was appointed Brazilian commercial attaché in New York, under Washington Luís.
In 1946 he moved to Argentina, where he also established a publishing house: Editorial Acteón. In 1947 he returned to São Paulo, dying on July 5, 1948.
Literary Characteristics
As a literary writer, Monteiro Lobato is among the regionalist authors of Pre-Modernism and stands out in the short story and fable genres.
Generally, the universe portrayed by the writer is the decaying villages and the populations of the Paraíba Valley, at the time of the coffee plantation crisis.
Monteiro Lobato was a storyteller, still attached to certain realistic models. Owner of a careful style, he did not miss the opportunity to criticize certain Brazilian habits, such as copying foreign models, our survival under international capitalism, etc.
His action, in addition to the literary circle, as a controversial intellectual also extends to the plane of political and social struggle. Moralist and indoctrinator, he aspired the material and mental progress of the Brazilian people.
With the publication of “The Oil Scandal” (1936) denounces the game of interests motivated by oil extraction. With that, he criticizes the international involvement of Brazilian authorities.
In 1941, already during the Vargas dictatorship, he was sentenced to six months in prison, accused of attacks on the government.
Despite his ideological openness, from an artistic point of view he proved to be conservative when the first modernist manifestations began to emerge in São Paulo.
His controversial article entitled “Paranoia or Mystification?”, published in the Journal The state of Sao Paulo in 1917.
In it, Lobato criticized Anita Malfatti's expressionist painting exhibition, considering her work to be the result of a mental deformation.
Main Works
The works by Lobato that stood out the most were:
- Urupês, 1918
- O Saci, 1921
- Upset Little Nose, 1921
- Fables, 1922
- The Marquis of Rabico, 1922
- The Adventures of Hans Staden, 1927
- Peter Pan, 1930
- Reigns of Narizinho, 1931
- Pedrinho's Hunts, 1933
- Emilia in the Country of Grammar, 1934
- Geography of Dona Benta, 1935
- Children's Don Quixote, 1936
- Aunt Nastácia's Stories, 1937
- The Viscount's Well, 1937
- The Yellow Woodpecker, 1939
Characters
Yellow Woodpecker Site
It is a work composed of a series of books (23 volumes), written between 1920 and 1947.
Lobato's characters were known by several generations of children from different countries. They arrived on Brazilian television in the 60s with the series “The Sítio do Picapau Amarelo”.
Original illustration of the Sítio do Picapau Amarelo by Manoel Victor Filho
In this story, Lobato takes the opportunity to transmit moral values, knowledge about our country, our traditions, etc. to the children.
Among the best known characters, we have:
- little nose she is the upturned-nosed girl whose name is Lucia. Granddaughter of D. Benta, she has a doll named Emilia, with whom she loves to talk.
- Peter is Narizinho's cousin and D's grandson. Blessed. The ten-year-old boy lives in the city and on vacation he always goes to the farm.
- Emily she is a talking rag doll. With a strong personality, she is the best friend of her owner Narizinho.
- Lady Benta she is the owner of the Picapau Amarelo farm. She loves children and enjoys telling them stories.
- Aunt Anastasia she is the farm maid and cooks very well. He also likes to tell stories and bake cookies. It was she who sewed Emilia.
- Viscount Sabugosa It's made from corn on the cob. Scholar who knows a lot of things, is also quite clumsy. It is always in the library or laboratory, which is in the basement of the farmhouse. He invented pixie dust.
- head she's an alligator-looking evil witch who keeps scaring people. She is a character from our folklore.
Read more about legend of cuca.
Jeca Armadillo
With your character from the book Urupese - an accommodated and miserable hillbilly type, Lobato criticizes the face of an agrarian Brazil, backward, full of vices and worms.
Unshaven, Jeca Tatu is a very poor man, discouraged and apparently lazy. He lives with his wife, two children and is always accompanied by his dog.
Later, it was discovered that Jeca Tatu had a yellow color and, therefore, that he had no desire to work and was discouraged as a result of the illness.
After being treated, he is cured of the disease and prospers in life becoming a great farmer.
Curiosities
Monteiro Lobato is one of the first writers of children's works in Brazil and Latin America. The day of his birth, April 18th, called "Monteiro Lobato's Day" is the National Children's Book Day.
Vila do Buquira, where Monteiro Lobato went to live and wrote a large part of his work, was named after him. Today, the city is called Monteiro Lobato.
The farm located in this city, heritage of his grandfather, was renamed Sítio do Picapau Amarelo, and is currently visited by many tourists.
In addition, there are several schools, streets and libraries in Brazil that bear the writer's name.
Known Phrases by Monteiro Lobato
- “A country is made with men and books.”
- “Everything originates in dreams. First we dream, then we do.”
- “Who barely reads, barely hears, barely speaks, barely sees.”
- “I still end up making books where our children can live.”
- “The children saved me. From so much writing to them, I simplified.”
Read too:
- pre-modernism
- The Language of Pre-Modernism
- Exercises on Pre-Modernism
