Lygia Bojunga was born on August 26, 1932, in Pelotas, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. She later became an actress, as well as writing for radio and television. She ended up being successful as a writer of children's and youth books. Like this won the highest award from the literature infantil and juvenile: the Hans Christian Andersen.
She is the author of several works, such as the yellow bag, his most famous book. Her texts value children's imagination and universe. Using simple language, they discuss social, family and gender issues. In this way, they stimulate the imagination and thinking of readers.
See too: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry — the author of the children's book The little Prince
Summary about Lygia Bojunga
The Brazilian author was born in 1932, in Rio Grande do Sul.
In addition to being a writer, she is an actress and editor of her own books.
She is one of the best known authors of children's and youth books in Brazil.
Her works are characterized by social criticism and interior monologue.
the yellow bag it is her most famous book and has been successful for decades.
Biography of Lygia Bojunga
Lygia Bojunga was born on August 26, 1932, in Pelotas, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. When she was eight years old, she and her family left for Rio de Janeiro, taking up residence in the famous neighborhood of Copacabana. In Cidade Maravilhosa, she soon fell in love with Carnival.
Later, becameif actress, despite cherishing the dream of being a doctor. She acted in a play at Teatro Duse (the first theater-laboratory in Brazil, according to Diego Molina) and was also part of the theater company Os Artistas Unidos. She got married for the first time at the age of 21.
She soon gave up a career in the theater, and for 10 years wrote for radio and television. Around the 1970s, with her second husband, she founded Toca, a rural school that received students for five years, until it closed. In 1972, she began her literary career with the publication of the book The friends.
Ten years later, she decided to live in England, but she did not leave Brazil and always returned to Rio de Janeiro state. From 1988 onwards, she returned to the stage when she premiered the monologue Book. During the 1990s, she continued to stage her own texts.
In the year 2002, the writer she founded the publishing house Casa Lygia Bojunga and began to edit her own books. By this time, she was an established and world-renowned writer. After all, Lygia Bojunga won, in 1982, the Hans Christian Andersen, the most important award in children's and youth literature.
→ Lygia Bojunga awards
National Book Institute (1971)
Tortoise (1973)
FNLIJ (1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1985)
APCA (1980)
Hans Christian Andersen (1982) — Denmark
Northwest Bank of Children's and Youth Literature (1982)
The Pied Piper of Hamelin (1985) — Germany
Moliere (1985)
Theater Mambembe (1986)
White Ravens (1993) — Germany
Origen Lessa (1996, 1999)
Adolfo Aizen (1997)
Julia Lopes de Almeida (2000)
Astrid Lindgren Memorial (2004) — Sweden
Characteristics of Lygia Bojunga's work
Lygia Bojunga is an author of children's and youth books. His works have the following characteristics:
animals and humans as characters;
interior monologue;
elements of national identity;
themes such as love and friendship;
valuing the children's universe;
reflection on family structure;
social criticism;
creativity and imagination;
simple language;
female protagonism;
humor.
Read too: Monteiro Lobato — an important Brazilian author of children's works
Works by Lygia Bojunga
The friends (1972)
Angelica (1975)
the yellow bag (1976)
godmother's house (1978)
tightrope (1979)
the patterned sofa (1980)
Goodbye (1984)
my painter friend (1987)
the three of us (1987)
book, a date (1988)
Making Ana Paz (1991)
Landscape (1992)
6 times Luke (1995)
The hug (1995)
Handmade (1996)
The bed (1999)
the river and me (1999)
Caroline's portraits (2002)
English lesson (2006)
High heels (2006)
Of the twenty 1 (2007)
Dear (2009)
Intramural (2016)
Analysis of the work the yellow bag, by Lygia Bojunga
![Cover of the book “A Bolsa Amarela”, by Lygia Bojunga, published by Casa Lygia Bojunga. [2]](/f/aa91d67c4ca3db0f057db72a3441b4ce.jpg)
the yellow bag is the most famous book by Lygia Bojunga. It tells the adventures of Raquel, the protagonist and narrator of the story. right off the bat Raquel manifests her three great wills: to grow up, to be a man and to write. After all, the protagonist thinks “it is much better to be a man than a woman”. And, in a conversation with her brother, she explains why:
- And yes. You can do a lot of things that we can't. Look: at school, when we have to choose a boss to play with, he's always a boy. Like the head of the family: he's always the man too. If I want to play soccer, which is the kind of game I like, everyone makes fun of me and says it's for men; if I want to fly a kite, they say the same thing. It's just people fooling around that we get stupid: everyone is always saying that you have to show your faces in the study, that you are going to be the head of the family, that you are going to have responsibility, that — wow life! — you're the ones who'll have everything. […]. |1|
So, the author raises the issue of gender. In addition, by giving prominence to a girl, the feminine reality is in evidence. By the way, in addition to her brother, Raquel also has two sisters. Another character is André, but he is fictional. The girl writes letters to him, since she decided to become a writer. She also writes letters to Lorelai, another made-up friend.
And the yellow bag? It's from Rachel. Aunt Brunilda no longer wanted the bag, and the girl kept it. Rachel hides her three wills in that yellow bag, which guide the entire plot. One day, the rooster Afonso is trapped inside the bag. He asks for the “clasp to stay half open”, but the clasp “ended up sleeping and closed”.
When Raquel opens the bag and the rooster comes out, she notices that he wears a black mask, with only two holes for his eyes. He is Terrible's cousin, a rooster who "won every fight". Raquel is also friends with Umbrella. That's right, of the female gender: the umbrella.
This is because, when it was time to make it, “the man at the factory — who was a really nice guy and who liked to seeing things like what they were born” asked if she wanted “to be a man umbrella or woman". And she replied: woman. Thus, it is in living with these three friends that Raquel discover which of the three desires really matters to you.
At the end of the story, two of the girl's wishes go away: to grow up and be a man, and one remains with her:
Afonso was astonished:
— You're not going to hide your wishes in the yellow bag anymore?
- No. They saw that I was losing their will, so they asked if they could leave. I said yes. They wanted to know if they could go like a kite and I said: “of course, hey”.
— And your desire to write?
"Oh, I'm not letting go of this one." But do you know? She doesn't weigh anything anymore: now I write everything I want, she doesn't have time to get fat.|1|
Quotes by Lygia Bojunga
Below are some phrases by Lygia Bojunga, taken from an interview given to FNLIJ in 2004:
“Looking back over my literary love affairs, I have always been passionate about highly imaginative writers.”
"The writer's task is only completed with the reader."
“The more things we take away from us, the more things grow.”
“The more we exercise the imagination, the more it opens up.”
“Reading is the exercise that most activates the imagination.”
“Freedom presupposes maturity.”
“If you learn to prepare yourself for freedom, it becomes an irreplaceable asset.”
“True creators, in general, are beings neurotically attached to freedom.”
Note
|1|BOJUNGA, Lygia. the yellow bag. 22. ed. Rio de Janeiro: AGIR, 1993.
image credits
[1] Wikimedia Commons (reproduction)
[2] Publisher Casa Lygia Bojunga (reproduction)
By Warley Souza
Literature Teacher
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/literatura/lygia-bojunga.htm