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The Slum (Library of Latin America) Paperback – June 1, 2000

4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 60 ratings
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First published in 1890, and undoubtedly Azevedo's masterpiece, The Slum is one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed novels ever written about Brazil. Indeed, its great popularity, realistic descriptions, archetypal situations, detailed local coloring, and overall race-consciousness may well evoke Huckleberry Finn as the novel's North American equivalent. Yet Azevedo also exhibits the naturalism of Zola and the ironic distance of Balzac; while tragic, beautiful, and imaginative as a work of fiction, The Slum is universally regarded as one of the best, or truest, portraits of Brazilian society ever rendered.

This is a vivid and complex tale of passion and greed, a story with many different strands touching on the different economic tiers of society. Mainly, however, The Slum thrives on two intersecting story lines. In one narrative, a penny-pinching immigrant landlord strives to become a rich investor and then discards his black lover for a wealthy white woman. In the other, we witness the innocent yet dangerous love affair between a strong, pragmatic, "gentle giant" sort of immigrant and a vivacious mulatto woman who both live in a tenement owned by said landlord. The two immigrant heroes are originally Portuguese, and thus personify two alternate outsider responses to Brazil. As translator David H. Rosenthal points out in his useful Introduction: one is the capitalist drawn to new markets, quick prestige, and untapped resources; the other, the prudent European drawn moth-like to "the light and sexual heat of the tropics."

A deftly told, deeply moving, and hardscrabble novel that features several stirring passages about life in the streets, the melting-pot realities of the modern city, and the oft-unstable mind of the crowd, The Slum will captivate anyone who might appreciate a more poetic, less political take on the nineteenth-century naturalism of Crane or Dreiser.
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  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Oxford University Press
  4. Publication date
    June 1, 2000
  5. Dimensions
    8.28 x 5.58 x 0.79 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0195121872
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0195121872
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Previous praise for the Library of Latin America series:

"Language has always been a barrier to our unity as the Americas, and most especially to our reading of each other's literatures. Now with this new series by Oxford University Press, the library of Latin America is literally open to North Americans and to English speakers everywhere. This is an important series for anyone who is prevented from knowing the classics of the southern half of this hemisphere because of not knowing the language. ¡Bienvenidos to these new readers!"--Julia Alvarez

Book Description

"With the Library of Latin America, Oxford has opened up a new frontier that may prove as exciting and enigmatic as the continent itself."--The Herald (South Carolina)

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 1st edition (June 1, 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0195121872
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195121872
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.28 x 5.58 x 0.79 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 60 ratings

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Aluísio Azevedo

Aluísio Azevedo

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
60 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Bob Newman
5.0 out of 5 stars Sex, Lies and Rio-scape
Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2016
Verified Purchase
I've been a fan of Brazilian literature for a long time, but only recently heard of THE SLUM from a Brazilian correspondent on Amazon. I ordered it and read it. Wow ! This is a really rich novel. First of all, it grants the reader a look at Brazilian (or at least Rio de Janeiro) society in the 19th century. At that time, Machado de Assis wrote of more refined, delicate circles, Euclides da Cunha wrote specifically of a certain 19th century historical incident. But Azevedo focuses mostly on lower class manners and existence with a rich soup of food, music, dress, work, love and sex. As far as the last goes, the contrast with Anglo-Saxon writers of the same period is amazing. Secondly, the novel doesn't focus on one person alone, but on a whole group---a miserly Portuguese immigrant who scrounges and scrimps his way to the top, his black slave mistress, a Portuguese stonecutter who falls for a Bahian mulatta, numerous laundrywomen and numerous lesser characters. The sum of their lives is the main topic of the book. Thirdly, the author covers the hot topics of Brazil of that period---slavery and racism, the contrast between European immigrants and native-born or mixed race Brazilians. The realism is palpable on every page, the dialogue lively, and the characters well-drawn. It seemed to me that Jorge Amado owed a lot to Azevedo in both style and content. If you like realist novels of any nationality, you'll definitely fall for this one. The ending, highly ironic, is totally unexpected---it is as if the whole book takes a sudden turn. It's hard to believe that Azevedo is so completely unknown in the English-speaking world.
2 people found this helpful
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Cinnamon
5.0 out of 5 stars A Lucky Find
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2001
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I read about this book in one of the many book review publications I read. The reviewer correctly called it a masterpeice. Apparently only one other person read that review or perhaps she found it on her own. We were both lucky. It is a book so well worth reading that it is hard to find enough suitable words of praise yet it is unknown. This book throbs with the colors, odors and sounds of a Brazilian slum: the excitement, the perfumes, the sexuality and the despair. It is deceptively easy to read. In fact, it almost finishes too quickly. One wants to continue to bathe one' senses in the luxurious words. This is not to say that the reader's morality and intellect is not also engaged. It is a scathing commentary on Brazilian attitudes towards race and the poor during the early 20th century. The reader cannot help but recognize that thhese attitudes are still with us in the early 21st century. However, Azevedo does not preach to us. He simply presents us with the issues, quietly, even deceptively. We do not know how deeply we have thought and felt until the last page.
6 people found this helpful
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joycie1982
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2013
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This book was required for a class I am taking about the History of Brazil, it was actually an interesting read.
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Eau Dryn
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book by a very famous author who we've missed ...
Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2015
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Excellent book by a very famous author who we've missed out on in the US because he wasn't translated until recently. A good read for the general public, but also an excellent insight into Brazilian history and social culture. Read it for a class on Latin America.
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Morena
5.0 out of 5 stars A rich history depicted by tragic heroes
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2013
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This story opens up your eyes to the struggles of Brazil during this time. The immigrant, the born Brazilian, and slave all have different stories while all existing in the same realm. Similarly, it paints the colorful canvas to how Brazil became the most beautiful, passionate, and diverse country it is today
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Carely Arteaga
5.0 out of 5 stars The flow and structure of the novel are very good. Book came in perfect conditions
Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2017
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In this book your are able to experience Brazilian culture, which is very captivating! The flow and structure of the novel are very good. Book came in perfect conditions.
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Reader_CEM
4.0 out of 5 stars Population types in Brazil
Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2015
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I read the book while I was in Brazil. It describes the lives of people of various economic and racial types living in large development around 1900 It added a lot to my understanding of how the population of Brazil developed. The title is not accurate. A Brazilian friend said a better title would be "the tenement".
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Nora Hackworth
5.0 out of 5 stars As expected.
Reviewed in the United States on January 23, 2020
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Good condition
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Top reviews from other countries

H. Tee
5.0 out of 5 stars Realism a la Zola in 1890s Brazil
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 23, 2010
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This is a recognised Brazilian literary masterpiece written in 1890 by Azevedo. It is according to the backcover "the most widely read and acclaimed' novel about Brazil. This is evident from the detailed introduction to the story at the front and the analytical summary presented at the back. It is clear that the novel is a classic and worthy of wider appeal. This has a naturalistic style paralleling others of the period like Zola, Norris and Querios.

This is at one a dramatic story and detailed characterisation of the people and period. The period is just prior to the ending of slavery (1888), the location is a developing Sao Romao near Rio de Janeiro. The basic story is the Miranda, married to Dona Estela, is an aspiring colonial Portuguese shop owner who moves into a big house next to Joao Romero, who lives with an ex-slave black Bertoleza (two immigrant ideologies thus conflict). Joao is a miserly but astute immigrant who runs a tavern and builds the slum on his lot. We then have a multitude of occupants of the slum: particularly Jeronino a mine foreman (and wife Piedade) Alexandre a policeman (and wife Augusta); Bruno a blacksmith (and wife Leocadia); Firmo a worker (and wife Rita); Marciana and her daughter Florinda. Most of the women work as washers. Later another slum rises up near by and we have inter-slum conflict. Another powerful relationship which is the catalyst for much action is that Jeronimo falls in love with Rita leading to fights, murder and betrayal. There is an awful lot of shagging leading to unwanted pregnancies and/or attempts at forced marriage.

Though written in 1890 this is easily as forthright as Zola ever was; lesbian love, murder, forced sex and squalor (and unless I'm being very much off the mark the most obviously gay character depicted I've read in such novels) are described openly and in a very literary style. This is a powerful, passionate story and the mix of heat, temperament, slavery, interracial mixing and power are reasons that make this a superior novel and without doubt can be seen to worthy of its status in Brazil. The somewhat unexpected climax is worthwhile too.

If I have one minor criticism it's that in 2 pages near the beginning (p24) we are introduced to no less than about 20 characters, I felt this was a little hard on the reader to log all these to memory - but fortunately Azevedo does often reintroduce the people with a small reminder as they make their appearances again; so no reason not to have 5 stars.
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Keith Andreetti
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2014
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This is the best book I have read in years. It is positively Shakespearean in the universality of its characters, in the way they live and breathe and in the way the author stands back from them and allows them to work out their destinies. It is a classic in Brazil and it deserves to be much better known elsewhere. The English text is rich and colourful and it reads smoothly and there is no sense of reading a translation.
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