A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture. Группа авторов

Чтение книги онлайн.

7 7 Court Culture, Ritual, Satire, and Music in Colonial Brazil and Spanish America

      Lúcia Helena Costigan

      Owing to the fact that, unlike the Spanish American colonies, such as New Spain, Peru, and New Granada, Brazil did not have viceroys, printing presses, and universities during its first centuries, court culture took a long time to flourish in the Portuguese America. However, despite the absence of a court culture during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, literary expressions related to Brazil emerged in Portugal right after Pedro Álvares Cabral accidentally landed in the newly “discovered” lands. Carta do achamento do Brasil, the letter written by Pero Vaz de Caminha (ca. 1450–1501) in 1500 and first published in 1817, is often considered the birth certificate of Brazilian letters. After this, most of the literature produced in Brazil during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was written by either European-born Jesuits or by a few Creole intellectuals with Jesuit education.

      The Jesuit Order, also known as the Company of Jesus, appeared in Europe a few decades after Martin Luther (1483–1546) started a religious reform that caused a split in Western Christendom. Luther opposed the sale of indulgences by the Catholic Church and proposed a new theology that led to the appearance of Protestant denominations. The Jesuit Order was founded in 1540 by Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) and his followers, a group of students at the University of Paris. Wishing to defend the Spanish Counter-Reformation and moved by the spirit of the medieval crusades, they intended to march to the Holy Land to preach to the infidels. Soon after the Order was founded, the Jesuits started to become known in Europe and in European colonies throughout the world.

      The Jesuits soon became known as excellent missionaries and educators owing to their superior education. Soon after the company was founded, Portugal granted the Jesuits the monopoly of the conversion of the infidels and gentiles in all of its Asian, African, and American colonies. The Portuguese King John III (1521–57) also directed the Jesuits to establish the educational system in Portugal and in the colonies. The University of Coimbra became one of the most important Jesuit educational centers.

In 1568 the Jesuits started the construction of a church in Rome. This Jesuit church, known as Del Gesù, is traditionally considered the first example of a new form of aesthetics. In the later part of the nineteenth century critics like Heinrich Wölfflin, who studied the artistic, literary, and musical production that emerged in Europe between the Renaissance and the Neoclassic periods, classified the new aesthetics as the Baroque. The Baroque emerged in Spain during the period of the Trent Concilium (1545–63).

      The Jesuits and Baroque Culture in Brazil

      In 1549, almost half a century after the landing of Cabral in Brazil, the Jesuit Manuel da Nóbrega (1517–70) arrived in Portuguese America. He came as part of the expedition led by Tomé de Sousa (ca. 1503–79), the first governor of the colony. The Jesuits were the first missionaries charged with the catechization of the Brazilian natives. From the second half of the sixteenth century until the middle of the eighteenth century the Jesuits not only worked among the natives, but also helped to shape the educational and cultural development of the new society. As Luiz Francisco de Alencastro points out, the company also became one of the wealthiest institutions in Portuguese America owing to its careful administration and the management of businesses that linked Brazil and Africa, particularly the slave trade. Dauril Alden also explains that because the company was free from taxation and received many donations, it was able to accumulate a great deal of wealth. Its patrimony included land, sugar plantations in rural areas, and lavish buildings and schools in urban centers.

Manuel da Nóbrega (1517–70), José de Anchieta (1534–97), and Antonio Vieira (1608–97) are the most distinguished Jesuits of colonial Brazil. Like other Jesuits who were engaged in missionary work, these three members of the company saw themselves as direct successors of the first Christians who sought to convert Romans and barbarians alike. The first Jesuit to arrive in Brazil, Father Manuel da Nóbrega, landed in the colony in 1549 with the royal governor, Tomé de Sousa. On his arrival, Nóbrega started to work directly with the natives in their villages, or aldeias. His major contribution to colonial Brazil consisted of his missionary work among the Indians, in which he promoted literature. His interest in finding effective ways to teach the natives led him to encourage José de Anchieta to write and direct theatrical plays aimed at facilitating the catechization of the natives. Nóbrega also added his own contributions to the literary field. His Diálogo sobre a conversão do gentio (1556) presents arguments both for and against the conversion of the natives. In the text, Nóbrega considers the American Indians to be no better and no worse than any other people, and he had no illusions about their inherent innocence. According to Nóbrega, the salvation of the natives would not be accomplished by divine miracle, but only by hard work and sacrifice on the part of the missionaries. In addition to the Diálogo, Nóbrega wrote an extensive number of letters to his Jesuit colleagues overseas, most of which was not published until the twentieth century. Those letters relating to his missionary experience in Brazil seem to alternate between optimism and pessimism. Although at times they express a gentle affection for the Indians, at other times Nóbrega seems to despise them and see the need to treat them with violent authoritarianism.

      José de Anchieta was the most distinguished literary and religious figure of sixteenth-century Brazil. Because of his work among the natives, he became known among them as the Apóstolo do Brasil (Brazilian apostle). His literary work consists of poetry and plays. Born in the Spanish Canary Islands and educated in Coimbra, Portugal, Anchieta arrived in Brazil in 1553, three СКАЧАТЬ