The Life and Death of Carolina Maria de Jesus (Diálogos Series) - Softcover

Levine, Robert M.; Meihy, José Carlos Sebe Bom

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0826316484 ISBN 13: 9780826316486

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press, 1995

Synopsis

In the dozen years Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977) lived in a São Paulo, Brazil, shanty slum, she survived by rummaging for junk. She also kept a diary of her abject poverty. Black, illegitimate, and poor, she suddenly became at age forty-six Brazil's best-selling author when a book drawn from her diaries appeared in 1960. An English translation, Child of the Dark, was published in 1962 and sold over 300,000 copies in the United States in a decade. Newsweek heralded her book as "a desperate, terrifying outcry from the slums of São Paulo . . . one of the most astonishing documents of the lower depths ever printed."

Collaborating with a Brazilian colleague, Levine tells the story of Carolina's life, giving particular emphasis to the years following her publishing success, and engages in a provocative debate over what Carolina's life reveals about such issues as racism in Brazil, the rigidity of the country's class system, and the process of constructing an identity amid constant degradation and poverty.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

Robert Levine tells the story of Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977), Brazilian, Black, illegitimate, extremely poor, and Brazil's best-selling author upon the publication of her journals.

About the Author:

Robert M. Levine is director of the Center for Latin American Studies, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida.

Historian José Carlos Sebe Bom Meihy, of the University of São Paulo, is a co-founder of the Brazilian Oral History Association.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0826316484
• ISBN 13: 9780826316486
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176