CLÁSSICOS BRASILEIROS BRAZILIAN CLASSICS - Imprensa Oficial

Brazilian Classics
A selection of authors with works in public domain
90
MARTINS PENA
(1815 – 1848)
Two fundamental aspects appear in Martins
Pena, who is considered to be the founder of
the Brazilian theater and comedy. Written in the
middle of Romanticism, his work does not fit the
canons of that movement, already tending to the
realistic solutions, judging by the effort to portray
quotidian types and habits. On the other hand,
he was the first major Brazilian author to write
only for the stage, at a time when others would
see the theatrical creation as a kind of secondary
branch in a more serious literature. Because of
a verbal humor, including puns and games of
words, his plays deflected from the Portuguese
tradition, placing the emphasis on the Brazilian
way of speaking, adopting popular expressions,
and often restoring them to use by giving them a
new roguery and more force. This comedy writer,
whose plays are staged over and over again, always
meeting absolute success, is regarded today as a
full master, for his skill to deploy his scenes, for
the way he arranges his effects and builds his
dialogues. He is a caricaturist in words, whipping
the society as he lays bare what is ludicrous in it.
Review
Main works
Excerpt
The novice
AMBRÓSIO — In that room?
MASTER — Yes, sir, and there he ordered us to
wait in silence. He called the novice, and as soon
as he left we rushed on him and forced him to
follow us to the monaostery.
AMBRÓSIO, scared - But to whom, sir, to whom?
MASTER — To whom?
FLORÊNCIA — What is this mess all about?
AMBRÓSIO — Hurry up!
MASTER — I got to the monastery, called at D.
Abbot's office, bringing the novice in restraint,
and then ... Ah!
AMBRÓSIO — For God's sake, hurry up!
MASTER — I still blush from shame. Then I
realized it had been vilely deceived.
AMBRÓSIO — But who was the novice under
arrest?
MASTER — A woman dressed as a friar.
Brakeless tropicallty
"Comedian Martins Pena is straightforward, because unintellectualized, requiring from the audience a participation that
is rather sensorial than intellectual, and also because he handles resources of forthright effect, in spite of being obvious
and constant. A comedian in the Brazilian style, prone to farce, to parody, to merrymaking, to the moderate sullenness of
a society that, while fancying itself European, is agitated by fits of a brakeless tropicality. Humor of white joke, bursting
into cheering-up, malicious laughter and, lasting but a fleeting instant, dies without consequences. A comedian who eases
the stress, triggers those harmless revenges generated by nonconformism or rebellion contained desires."
(Massaud Moisés, História da literatura brasileira)
Um sertanejo na corte (1833-1837); O juiz de paz da roça (1842); O Judas em sábado de aleluia (1846); O cigano
(1845); As casadas solteiras (1845); O noviço (1845); O namorador ou A noite de São João (1845); O caixeiro da
taverna (1845); Os meirinhos (1845); Os ciúmes de um pedestre ou O terrível capitão do mato (1846); Os irmãos das
almas (1846); O diletante (1846); Quem casa quer casa (1847).