Joaquim de Sousa Andrade
Encyclopedia
Joaquim de Sousa Andrade, better known by his pseudonym Sousândrade (July 9, 1833 — April 20, 1902), was a Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian poet, adept of the "Condorist
Condorism
Condorism was a Brazilian literary movement that occurred during the 1860s, 1870s and the first years of the 1880s. It is a subdivision of Brazilian Romanticism, being thus called "the third phase of Brazilian Romanticism", preceded by the Indianism and the Ultra-Romanticism...

" movement. His poetry, too innovating for the time it was published, is now considered an early example of Symbolism
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...

 and Modernism
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...

 in Brazil.

Biography

Sousândrade was born in the city of Guimarães
Guimarães, Maranhão
Guimarães is a town and municipality in the state of Maranhão in the Northeast region of Brazil.-References:...

, in the Brazilian State of Maranhão
Maranhão
Maranhão is a northeastern state of Brazil. To the north lies the Atlantic Ocean. Maranhão is neighbored by the states of Piauí, Tocantins and Pará. The people of Maranhão have a distinctive accent...

, in 1833. He published his first poetry book, Harpas Selvagens (Wild Harps), in 1857. He travelled to many countries, such as France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 (where he graduated in Linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....

 and mining engineering
Mining engineering
Mining engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the practice, the theory, the science, the technology, and application of extracting and processing minerals from a naturally occurring environment. Mining engineering also includes processing minerals for additional value.Mineral...

 at Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

) and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, where he settled in 1871. It was while in the U.S.A. that he wrote Guesa, an epic poem
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...

 based on a Quechua legend about a teenager Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 who is going to be sacrificed to the Sun God. Guesa is characterized by the employment of neologisms and vertiginous metaphores; thus, it's considered by some critics a precursor work of Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

, however this was only acknowledged decades after his death. From 1871 to 1879 he was secretary and collaborator for the periodical O Novo Mundo, directed by José Carlos Rodrigues
José Carlos Rodrigues
José Carlos Rodrigues was a Brazilian journalist, financial expert, and philanthropist, with connections to both the United States and Great Britain.-Early life:...

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Returning to Maranhão, in order to commemorate the proclamation of the republic in Brazil, he became president of the mayor's office of São Luís
São Luís, Maranhão
São Luís is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Maranhão. The city is located on Ilha de São Luís in the Baía de São Marcos , an extension of the Atlantic Ocean which forms the estuary of Pindaré, Mearim, Itapecuru and other rivers. Its coordinates are 2.53° south, 44.30° west...

 in 1890. He founded many schools, realized reforms in teaching and idealized the flag of Maranhão. He also planned to be a senator in 1890, but quit before the elections.

Sousândrade died poor, forgotten and allegedly insane
Insanity
Insanity, craziness or madness is a spectrum of behaviors characterized by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity may manifest as violations of societal norms, including becoming a danger to themselves and others, though not all such acts are considered insanity...

 in São Luís, in 1902. His works were only rediscovered in the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...

 and the 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...

. Ironically, he has said once of his poem Guesa, in 1877:

Works

  • Harpas Selvagens (1857
    1857 in literature
    The year 1857 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*Jules Verne marries Honorine de Viane Morel.*The illustrated weekly, Über Land and Meer, is founded by Friedrich Wilhelm Hackländer and Edmund von Zoller....

    )
  • Guesa (1871
    1871 in literature
    The year 1871 involved saw some significant events relevant to literature.-New books:*Louisa May Alcott - Little Men*Mary Elizabeth Braddon - Fenton's Quest*Edward George Bulwer-Lytton - The Coming Race...

    )
  • Novo Éden (1893
    1893 in literature
    The year 1893 in literature involved some significant new books.-Events:*André Gide begins his travels in North Africa.*Jerome K. Jerome founds the magazine To-Day.-New books:*Byron A...

    )

External links

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