MAY
1998
LETTERS

Overkill

I always find your magazine interesting, but I was somewhat disturbed by the attack on the character of the author Jorge Amado in the article "Bahia's Dr. Faustus" (April 1998). I am not in a position to confirm or deny what Janer Cristaldo wrote about Amado, and apparently he is not in such a position either, judging from the lack of documentation attached to his invective. He begins his essay by calling Amado the "greatest prostitute of contemporary literature," a "messenger of Nazism" and "agent of Stalinism" who is now an "officious scriptwriter" for TV Globo's Roberto Marinho. After reading the article carefully, all that Cristaldo has proven is that Jorge Amado is an unrepentant leftist who has had the temerity to accept money from capitalists for the rights to publish and adapt his works. This thesis could have made an interesting article, but Cristaldo overreaches.

Cristaldo claims that Amado edited the cultural page of the "pro-Nazi newspaper Meio-Dia." Was it pro-Nazi? Is there any documentation? Are there pro-Nazi quotes from Amado? None are presented by Cristaldo. He goes on to quote one Oswald de Andrade, who states that Amado tried to recruit him to write "a book defending Germany," and implies that Amado had written such books. Do any survive? Is there any evidence at all that Amado was a Nazi sympathizer? Much later in the article, Cristaldo lets slip that Amado "denies his Nazi involvement." Case closed, Amado guilty? Cristaldo seems to think so.

As for the charge that Amado was an "agent of Stalinism": while Amado may have been a communist during the era of Stalin, in 1956, when Stalin's crimes were fully revealed, Amado made this statement (which Cristaldo quotes but calls "a timid and discreet mea culpa"): "...above all we have to discuss the huge reflexes of the personality cult among us, our huge mistakes, the absurds of all sizes, the dehumanization that...flourished in the manure of this cult..." He is referring to the cult of Stalin, the same cult that, 42 years after this far from timid repudiation, he is still being beaten over the head with by right-wing writer/translator/journalists. "Today we know what Stalin was planning..." Cristaldo states, but then pillories Amado for not knowing at the time, or for knowing and supporting the crimes; it's not clear just which case Cristaldo is trying to make. Whichever it is, he has supplied too much invective and too little evidence.

At last it becomes clear what is paining Dr. Cristaldo so. It is that Amado still "prides himself of (sic) his past as a man of the left," while taking money from TV Globo, and also that, perhaps more tellingly, the "Parisians, long known for their collaborationism and Stalinist tradition" (Cristaldo's words) at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris III) gave Jorge Amado an honorary degree. Wait a minute—that's the precise university where Dr. Janer Cristaldo received his Ph.D.! Perhaps Cristaldo's next article should be about why capitalist broadcasters like Roberto Marinho buy works from leftists like Amado, and why "Stalinist" Parisian universities like Sorbonne Nouvelle give doctorates to rightist scholars! Very broad-minded on both sides, eh? Maybe we can all get along.

I thank you, as an unrepentant leftist who is neither a Stalinist nor a Nazi (and I believe there are some millions of leftists in Brazil as well), for this opportunity to reply to this article.

Todd Mecklem
Manhattan Beach, California
E-mail: mecklem@yahoo.com 

 

Care Would
Do It

Your article on the Brazilian film industry was exceptional. Bruce Gilman's articles are always a pleasure to read. Many of the errors in English could be avoided with careful editing. The translations from Portuguese to English are frequently too literal.

Fred Dobb
Sacramento, California

Writer
for Hire

Although I am an American, I have visited Brazil twice in the last two years and am intensely interested in learning more about it. It is a fascinating country, with great people and a promising economy. As a journalist, I am also interested in writing about Brazil, perhaps by way of a yearlong fellowship. If anyone at your magazine is aware of any such opportunities—or why Brahma chope is no longer sold in the U.S.— please let me know. Obrigado!

Robert Vickers
Cleveland, Ohio

Still $3

I was a subscriber of Brazzil for a while and want to renew my subscription. Is it still $3? Also, I recently finished two research studies about Brazilian TV—one specifically about the emerging cable industry and another about how TV is affecting indigenous populations in the Brazilian Amazon. Would you guys be interested in publishing articles about those topics? If yes, I'll be happy to put them in journalistic format and send them over (I was a professional journalist in Brazil for eight years, and am currently teaching Journalism and Communication here at CSU Monterey Bay).

Raul Reis
California State University in Monterey

Much to
Improve

Very much enjoy your magazine. Wish I had seen it before I began living in Brazil. However, your website needs a lot of work. The music doesn't work smoothly. It bogs down and causes my machine to crash when I try to cancel it. There should be a way to stop it once it starts to play. You need more pictures and graphics. The navigation bar on the left is hard to read. I would like to be able to get more of a feel of your magazine on the Web.

Mathew Caine
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Brazil
Exposure

I would like to be in touch with Brazil through your publication, and send you an article on how a Brazilian artist found a wonderful way to expose people to art in New Mexico and other states by painting elaborate detailed art work on motorcycles and autos.

Margaret Ferraro Oster
Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Revelations

Hello from Toronto! I just wanted to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for your work at Brazzil magazine, which I have belatedly discovered (Better late than never!). Your long interview with McGowan and Pessanha was very interesting, especially the description of the interview with Jobim. I've always suspected that the English translations of Vinícius' lyrics weren't up to par. Clearly, Jobim was unhappy with them. Jobim also met with John Krich, (author of Why is this Country Dancing, 1993), in similar circumstances, although Jobim seems to have stayed sober for McGowan and Pessanha. I also support your efforts to include song lyrics and their English translations in your articles. Are they your own translations? Keep up the good work.

Martin Ahermaa
Toronto, Canada

Catch 22

When God chose to place the world's two most beautiful places on earth, He chose to place them both on Latitude 22. This is why Rio de Janeiro is at Latitude 22 degrees South and the Hawaiian Island of Kauai is located at Latitude 22 degrees North. Espetaculares e Maravilhosas! Thank God!

Jay M. Trennoche
Kapa'a, Kauai, Hawaii

Keeping
Friends
Abreast

I was a subscriber several years ago and unfortunately let my subscription slip. I am going to order several subscriptions for friends and family, as we are in the process of moving to Brazil again and would like them to feel they have some sort of pulse as to what is happening there.

Lydia Musgrave
Via E-mail

We Care

The is an appeal to Massimo who enjoys so much your publication (Kudos from Britain!) and who is now in Brazil somewhere (in this beautiful country where he and myself were born) maybe searching for his roots... We all are missing him: Max, we just want to be able to help you if you only wish. Please, remember that you are not alone. Try to keep in touch or live a message. Love from Serena

Serena Fabbrini
Via Internet
E-mail: fabbrini.serena@hsr.it

Can't you find Brazzil at your Brazilian consulate? Don't ask us why, ask the consulate.

And what do
you think?

Send us your E-mail:
brazzil@brazzil.com