Calunga, romance.

Porto Alegre, Livraria do Globo, 1935.. FIRST EDITION. 8°, original printed wrappers (about half of each wrapper split; some other wear and foxing). Occasional light foxing. Newspaper review of the work from 1935 laid in. In good condition. Inscribed by Jorge de Lima to the Portuguese modernist poet Alberto de Serpa, 1935. 188 pp. *** FIRST EDITION of the author's third novel, one of his more important works, a novel of regional and social concerns.Jorge Mateus de Lima (1895-1953), a native of União dos Palmares (Alagoas), was a prominent Modernist poet and co-founder of the Northeastern school. He is "acclaimed as one of the most spontaneous natural poetic geniuses of Brazilian literature, [but] he is considered by some to be a perpetually dissatisfied poet in search of new worlds to conquer and never content with his own brilliant performance" (Stern pp. 176-77). In 1931 Lima moved to Rio de Janeiro and began teaching Brazilian literature. His earlier works included, in verse, the precocious XIV Alexandrinos, 1914; O mundo do menino imposível, 1925; Poemas, 1927; and A comédia dos erros, 1923. Although known primarily as a poet, he also wrote novels, children's literature and art criticism. The influences on his work range from Parnassianism to Symbolism, Modernism and Surrealism. As a young man Lima was torn between becoming a physician or a priest, and although he studied to be the former, many of his writings reflect a religious temperament that seems to have become stronger toward the end of his life, for example, in Tempo e eternidade, 1935, and A túnica inconsutil, 1938. Lima is closely linked with José Lins do Rego in the founding of the Northeastern school.Provenance: Alberto de Serpa Esteves de Oliveira (1906–1992), poet, dramatist, essayist and book collector, attended the University of Coimbra for 3 years but was more interested in collaborating with the writers of Presença than in studying. He published his first novel, Saudade do mar, at age 17, and 2 collections of poetry (Quadras and Evoé), but it was 2 later collections, Varanda, 1934 and Vinte poemas da noite, 1935, that led to his unanimous recognition by critics as an important modern poet. Casais Monteiro says that Serpa, along with Branquinho da Fonseca, Carlos Queirós and Francisco Bugalho, give us "um novo aspecto do abandono egoísta a um eu inadaptado à acção … [Serpa] tem, na poesia, não uma via de contacto com a realidade, mas, por assim dizer, um instrumento a cuja musica embala a sua dolorosa impressão de diferença e de incompatibilidade" (p. 239).After his years in Coimbra, Serpa returned to his native Porto and became an insurance broker. He was imprisoned for political reasons in 1936, and at the same period became once again a fervent Catholic. Throughout his life he contributed to Portuguese literary reviews, including A Aguia, Aventura, Cadernos de poesia, Cavalo de todas as cores (co-editor), Diálogo, Momento, Presença (editor of the second series, 1939-40), Quatro ventos and Tríptico.*** Carpeaux, Pequena bibliografia crítica da literatura brasileira p. 276. Menezes, Dicionário literário brasileiro p. 367. Stern, Dictionary of Brazilian Literature pp. 176-77. Bandeira, Brief History of Brazilian Literature pp. 147-50. Wilson Martins, Modernist Idea pp. 212-16. For Alberto de Serpa, see the following: Casais Monteiro, Poesia portuguesa contemporânea pp. 239-45. Saraiva & Lopes, Historia da literatura portuguesa (1976) pp. 1096-7. Grande enciclopedia XXVIII, 456-7. See also Fernando Guimarães in Machado, ed., Dicionário de literatura portuguesa, p. 449; Eugenio Lisboa in Biblos, IV, 1276–7; and Dicionário cronológico de autores portugueses, IV, 291-2. Jisc locates this edition in the British Library only. Harvard has this edition (see Hollis). This edition not in Orbis.