Mario de Andrade he was a modernist writer, literary critic, musicologist, folklorist and Brazilian cultural activist.
His literary style was innovative and marked the first modernist phase in Brazil, above all, due to the valorization of Brazilian identity and culture.
Alongside several artists, he played a leading role in organizing the Week of Modern Art (1922).
Biography
Photo by Mário de Andrade (1928)
Mário Raul de Morais Andrade was born in the city of São Paulo, on October 9, 1893.
From a humble family, Mário had two brothers and from an early age showed a great inclination towards the arts, notably literature.
In 1917, he studied piano at the “Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo”, the year of the death of his father, Dr. Carlos Augusto de Andrade.
That same year, at just 24 years of age, he published his first book entitled “There is a Drop of Blood in each Poem”.
Later, in 1922, he published the work of poetry “Pauliceia mad” and becomes Professor of Music History at the “Dramatic and Musical Conservatory of São Paulo”.
That same year, he helped organize the Modern Art Week working alongside various artists.
With Oswald de Andrade, Tarsila do Amaral, Anita Malfatti and Menotti del Picchia, they formed the modernist group that became known as the "group of five".
Dedicated to his great pleasure, literature, in 1927, published the work “tortoise clan”, based on popular traditions. That same year, he published the novel entitled “to love, intransitive verb”, where he criticizes the sexual hypocrisy of the São Paulo bourgeoisie.
Mário was a scholar of folklore, ethnography and Brazilian culture. Therefore, in 1928, he published the novel (rhapsody) “Macunaíma”, one of the great masterpieces of Brazilian literature.
This work was developed through his years of research which brings together countless indigenous legends and myths from the history of the “hero without any character”.
For 4 years (1934 to 1938) he worked as director of the “Department of Culture of the Municipality of São Paulo”.
In 1938, he moved to Rio de Janeiro. He was appointed Professor of Philosophy and History of Art and Director of the Institute of Arts at the Universidade do Distrito Federal.
He returns to his hometown in 1940, where he starts working at the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Service (SPHAN).
A few years later, his health starts to become fragile. On February 25, 1945, at the age of 51, Mário de Andrade died in São Paulo, victim of a heart attack.
Main Works
Mário de Andrade left a vast work from novels, poems, reviews, short stories, chronicles, essays:
- There's a Drop of Blood in Every Poem (1917)
- Paulicéia Desvairada (1922)
- The Slave Who Is Not Isaura (1925)
- First Floor (1926)
- Clan of the Tortoise (1927)
- Love, Intransitive Verb (1927)
- Macunaíma (1928)
- The Aleijadinho de Álvares de Azevedo (1935)
- Poetry (1941)
- The Modernist Movement (1942)
- The Bird Stuffer (1944)
- Lira Paulistana (1946)
- New Tales (1947)
- Complete Poetry (1955)
- The Banquet (1978)
poems
To get to know the writer's language better, check out three poems below:
Beautiful girl well treated
Beautiful, well-groomed girl,
Three centuries of family,
Dumb as a door:
A love.
Fine of shamelessness,
Sport, ignorance and sex,
Donkey as a door:
One thing.
fat woman, fillet,
of gold through every pore
Dumb as a door:
Patience…
Unconscious plutocrat,
nothing door, earthquake
That the poor man's door breaks down:
A bomb.
Eternal Presence
This happy desire to embrace you,
For how far away are you from me,
Makes me imagine you everywhere
Vision, bringing me happiness and peace.
I see you in a dream, dream of kissing you;
I see you shadow, I'm running after;
See you naked, oh white lily of art,
Blushing the existence of a boy…
And with seeing you and dreaming of you, this memory
Geratriz, this magic longing,
Give me the illusion that you've arrived at last;
I feel the joy of those who ask and reach
And the deceptive strength of, in truth,
Have you, far from me, close to me.
Sonnet
So many tears I have, my lady,
Spilled from the suffering eyes,
That my ardors have gone with them
And eagerness to love that your gifts came to me.
All the crying I cried. All I had,
it fell to my chest full of splendors,
And instead of creating better lands there,
It made my soul safarian and sissy.
And it was such crying for me,
And such are the pains, so many sorrows
Which tore your grace from my chest,
How much to lose, I have lost everything!
I don't see surprises in surprises anymore
And I don't even know anymore, unfortunately!
Read too:
Modernism in Brazil
The Language of Modernism
Phrases by Mário de Andrade
- “We must not set an example to anyone. But we can be a lesson.”
- “The past is a lesson to meditate, not to reproduce.”
- “What a mysterious thing sleep... It only brings us closer to death to establish ourselves better in life...”
- “My work is all popular like this: Brazilians, it's time to make Brazil.”
- “I must confess preliminarily that I don't know what is beautiful and I don't even know what art is.”
Mario de Andrade Library
The Mário de Andrade Library (BMA) was founded in 1925 and at the time was called the "Municipal Library of São Paulo".
Mário de Andrade Library, one of the most important in the country
The Art Deco style building is located in the city of São Paulo and has the second largest collection in the country, after the National Library of Rio de Janeiro. In addition, it is the largest public library in the city and the second largest in the country.
Mario de Andrade House
House where writer Mário de Andrade lived in Barra Funda, São Paulo
The house where the writer lived between 1921 and 1945 in São Paulo was listed in 1975.
Belonging to the State Department of Culture, the site is used for cultural activities. In addition, it houses a museum in honor of the poet.
