Home | Books By Year | Books from 1956


The Devil to Pay in the Backlands

Buy The Devil to Pay in the Backlands now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the book. And once you've experienced the book, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




, a national park created in tribute to the book.

'Grande Serto: Veredas' (Portuguese for "Great Backlands: Paths"; English translation: 'The Devil to Pay in the Backlands') is a novel published in 1956 by the Brazilian writer Joo Guimares Rosa.

The original title refers to the 'veredas' - small paths through wetlands usually located at higher altitudes characterized by the presence of grasses and 'buritizais', groups of the buriti palm-tree ('Mauritia flexuosa'),Martius & Spix. 'Viagem pelo Brasil'. 1828, p. 109. that criss-cross the Serto region in northern Minas Gerais as a labyrinthine net where an outsider can easily get lost, and where there is no single way to a certain place, since all paths interconnect in such a way that any road can lead anywhere. The English title refers to a later episode in the book involving an attempt to make a deal with the Devil. Most of the book's spirit is however lost in translation, as the Portuguese original is written in a register that is both archaic and colloquial, as well as full of the author's remarkable neologisms, which makes the aesthetics of the book a challenging task to transpose to other languages. The combination of its size, linguistic oddness and polemic themes caused a shock when it was published, but now it is widely regarded as the greatest work of Brazilian literature and one of the most important novels of Portuguese language literature and South American literature. In a 2002 poll of 100 noted writers conducted by the Bokklubben World Library, the book was named among the top 100 books of all time.'[http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,711520,00.html The top 100 books of all time], Guardian Unlimited', May 8, 2002

Plot



'Grande Serto: Veredas' is the complex story of 'Riobaldo', a former jaguno (mercenary or bandit) of the poor and steppe-like inland of the Rio So Francisco, known as Serto, of the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia in the dawn of the 20th century. Now an old man and a rancher, Riobaldo tells his long story to an anonymous and silent listener coming from the city. The book is written in one long section, with no section or chapter breaks.

.

Riobaldo is born into a middle-class family and, unlike most of his contemporaries, receives an education. This enables him to begin his career as a tutor to a prominent local rancher, 'Z Bebelo', and he watches as Z Bebelo raises an army of his own jagunos to stamp out several of the local bandit gangs. Instead, for reasons that are never fully clearapparently a desire for adventurehe disappears from the ranch and defects to the side of the bandits under the leadership of Joca Ramiro. Due to his excellent aim, Riobaldo becomes a valued member of the band and begins to rise in stature. In the course of the events Riobaldo gets acquainted with Diadorim, revealed later to be someone from his past who used the name, 'Reinaldo'. Diadorim is a young, pleasant and ambivalent fellow jaguno. The two start a profound friendship, with Diodorim exerting an unusual attraction in Riobaldo. Throughout the book it is hinted that Diadorim is Joca Ramiro's nephew or illegitimate son.

Ramiro's men defeat and capture Z Bebelo, but after a short trial, Bebelo is released. The war is temporarily over, but news later comes that two of Ramiro's lieutenants, Ricardo and 'Hermogenes', have betrayed and murdered him. As a result, the victorious army splits in two, Riobaldo staying with the current leader, Medeiro Vaz. When Vaz dies of illness, Z Bebelo returns from exile and takes ownership of the band (this is actually where the book begins; the previous part is told in a very lengthy retrospective). They survive a lengthy siege by Hermogenes' men, but Z Bebelo loses the taste for fighting, and the band is idled for nearly a month in a plague-ridden village. When this happens, Riobaldo mounts a challenge and takes command of the band, sending Z Bebelo away.

Riobaldo, who has mused on the nature of the devil intermittently since the beginning of the book, tries to make a pact with the devil. He goes to a crossroads at midnight, but is uncertain as to whether the deal has been made or not, and he remains unsure for the rest of the story. He leads his band across a hostile desert and successfully ambushes and destroys Ricardo's men and kills Ricardo. He then moves against Hermogenes but is surprised; with difficulty and heavy casualties, his army defeats Hermogenes. The climax of the book is a knife fight between the two opposing armies. In the fight, Diadorim kills Hermogenes, but is in turn killed. Riobaldo resigns command of the jagunos and settles down to a more conventional life.

The final musings of the book are regarded as some of the most beautiful fragments of Portuguese language literature.

Television adaptation



In 1985, the novel was adapted for a TV-miniseries for the Brazilian network Rede Globo.

English translations



The first English translation, by James L. Taylor and Harriet de Ons, was published in 1963. A second translation was undertaken by Felipe W. Martinez.

References




Buy The Devil to Pay in the Backlands now from Amazon

<-- Return to books from 1956



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1068351912.