Imigrantes judeus / Escritores brasilieros: O componente judaico na literatura brasiliera.

Lindstrom, Naomi

Regina Igel. Rubens Ricupero, pref. Sao Paulo. Perspectiva / Associacao Universitaria de Cultura Judaica / Banco Safra. 1997. 260 pages. ISBN 85-2730129-6.

An abundance of information, much of which would be very difficult to find elsewhere, is the great strength of Regina Igel's new book on Brazilian Jewish writing. For the wide-ranging survey Imigrantes judeus / Escritores brasileiros, she has assembled an impressive archive of works by Brazilian Jewish writers, ranging from the internationally known Moacyr Scliar to obscure and difficult-to-trace figures. Igel has taken on an especially difficult task in researching Jewish writing from Brazil's 330-year colonial period, when the Sephardic presence was often sizable but Jewish expression was suppressed. Here she finds three figures whose works, upon examination, turn out to harbor covert Jewish elements. One of these, Ambrosio F. Brandao, is so elusive that his date and place of birth and death remain unknown, and his work was only published in 1930. From the colonial period, Imigrantes goes to the turn of the century, when mostly Ashkenazic immigrants came to Brazil. The experiences of these settlers would later provide raw material for retrospective writings.

While the early parts of Imigrantes proceed chronologically, with considerable historical background, later sections are organized around thematic concerns. Igel includes a discussion of urban Jewish writing, a survey of literary treatments of acculturation and assimilation, a chapter on the themes of marginality and Zionism, and a section on Holocaust memoirs from Brazil. The texts studied all have visible Jewish content. The book deals primarily with Jewish writers, although, in the course of her all-inclusive survey, Igel notes briefly some Jewish-themed works by non-Jewish writers.

Inevitably, Imigrantes judeus will be compared to Nelson H. Vieira's Jewish Voices in Brazilian Literature: A Prophetic Discourse of Alterity (1995; see WLT 70:4, p. 942). Despite being the two books available on Brazilian Jewish writing, these works are not very similar. Vieira's Jewish Voices is essentially a book-length compilation of three lengthy interpretive essays on three well-known writers (Scliar, Clarice Lispector, and Samuel Rawet), all recent. Vieira draws considerably on late-twentieth-century literary theory; he makes bold general assertions and is unafraid to venture into speculation. Igel packs so much information into her book, covering so many authors and works and giving so much historical background, that little room is left for her to theorize or advance broad generalizations. While Vieira pursues a well-hidden Jewish trace in Clarice Lispector, Igel focuses on writers who thematize their Jewish background.

Imigrantes judeus will likely become an indispensable reference work for anyone researching Brazilian Jewish writers. Any reissue or new edition of the book would benefit from the inclusion of an index and a bibliography.

Naomi Lindstrom University of Texas, Austin