User:Acj.acj/Macunaíma (novel)

Macunaíma was published six years after the "Semana de Arte Moderna, which marked the beginning of the Brazilian modernism movement.

The 1969 film was directed by Brazilian film director, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade. While the storyline differs from the 1928 version, the film retains the original narrative structure. Pedro de Andrade simplified the magical elements of the book in order to relate to Brazil's social, economic, and political state.

Macunaíma's character was based off of a description found in Vom Roroima zum Orinoco by Theodor Koch-Grünberg.

Andrade wrote the character Macunaíma to represent the idea that Brazil had no national character. Macunaíma became a symbol of Brazil's national identity. In order to make Macunaíma this symbol, Andrade strategically created the character as a conglomeration of various cultures. Additionally, within the story there is references to a variety of myths and cultures. The tale was heavily based off of the Taulipang myth, Makunaima, which gave the tale its mythical structure.

One of the story's central points is the incorporation of the three main races that make up Brazilian culture: Indigenous, Portuguese, and African. Macunaíma was born a black Indian man and then goes through a racial transformation where he becomes a white man. The confluence of Indian, Black, and White ethnicities is central to the conceptualization of Brazil.

Macunaíma's character also represents a migrant experiencing the new changes and developments occurring in society. His character and the experiences he goes through represents the theme of modernization in Brazil.

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Macunaima, o heroi sem nenhum carater (English: “Macunaima”) is a 1928 novel translated by Karina Dobson.

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Her translation of Mario de Andrade’s 1928 Novel, Macunaima: The Hero With No Character was recently published in April of 2023. Dobson is the author and translator of the Portuguese language. She is known for translating other works such as “The Complete Stories of Clarice Lispector (New Direction 2015).”  She has won many awards such as the 2016 PEN Translation Prize, the American Translators Association Lewis Galantiere Prize, and a Northern California Book Award.