“Eviction Room” the writer’s best-known book Carolina Maria de Jesus , published from handwritten diaries, begins with a passage narrating July 15, 1955. “Today is my daughter Vera Eunice’s birthday”, notes the author who became known in 1960 for revealing everyday life in Favela do Canindé, north zone of São Paulo, to the rest of Brazil and the world. “I can't have a party because this is the same as wanting to grab the Sun with your hands. There will be no lunch today. Just dinner”, goes on about the forecast for that day.
Despite her concern about celebrating her daughter's birthday, it is not possible to know how Carolina felt on her own birthday. No notes were published relating to March 14, the day she was born in 1914, in Sacramento, Minas Gerais. If she were alive, the writer would be 110 years old this Thursday (14) .
Even though it is not possible to be sure about Carolina's feelings at that time, the historical recovery carried out for the exhibition “A Brazil for Brazilians”, by the Moreira Salles Institute makes it clear that Carolina was aware of her importance to the world.
In the exhibition catalogue, which opened in 2021, curators Hélio Menezes and Raquel Barreto say that the search for photos of the writer brought up a different image of what was conveyed by newspapers and magazines while she was alive.
Carolina Maria de Jesus: Elegant and proud
“The research also revealed a significant number of images that break the strong visual convention about the author”, highlights the duo in the text. According to the curators, Carolina was often portrayed “with a crestfallen, sometimes melancholy expression”, with the Canindé favela as the preferred backdrop.
In contrast, Menezes and Raquel say they found a lot of material, much of it before the release of the first book, in which the author appears “vain, elegant, aware of her presence and proud of herself”.
Carolina appears smiling and dressed with great care as she is portrayed alongside then-president João Goulart, who is holding one of the copies of the author's debut book. In total, 200,000 copies were sold, translated into 17 languages. The agent also laughs discreetly. Daughter Vera Eunice faces the camera with a serious, slightly sad expression. The photo illustrated a report in Correio da Manhã, in November 1961 and is currently part of the National Archives collection.
The writer supported herself for much of her life, even in a period after launching into the publishing market, by collecting recyclable materials. However, Carolina always believed in her own potential as a writer, sending originals to several publishers. In fact, her daughter Vera Eunice is currently trying to recover some of this material that would not have been returned to the family.
In addition to her most famous title, the author released the titles “Casa de Masonry” (1961), “Pedaços de Fome” (1963) and “Proverbs” (1963) during her lifetime. There is also the autobiographical “Diário de Bitita”, published in 1986, after the author's death, in 1977, from complications of asthma.
Carolina's trajectory was followed by newspapers for decades. On several occasions, the writer spoke out against racism. “It's typical of dictators to not like the truth and black people” she protested, against the censorship imposed by the regime of António de Oliveira Salazar, of Portugal, on her book in 1961. The headline is part of the material gathered by the IMS.
New tributes
The institute launches on the day the author would have turned 110 years old an internet page with material about Carolina's life and work. One of the two handwritten notebooks of the original “A Brazil for Brazilians”, which after being edited and published in France would become “Bitita’s Diary”, is available in full.
There are also letters sent and received by the writer, photographs and reports. A timeline presents Carolina's trajectory, starting with her ancestry, with the birth of the writer's grandfather, Benedicto José da Silva, in 1862, 26 years before the abolition of slavery. It is possible to see the author on video at the farm in Parelheiros, in the extreme south of the capital of São Paulo, bought with the money obtained from her work as a writer.
“There is a central proposal on this website, which is to be a meeting point, where admirers, scholars, readers and all people who feel touched by Carolina will be able to share precious aspects of her life and work on the go”, says the person responsible for designing the project, Fernanda Miranda.
According to the writer's daughter, Vera Eunice is still negotiating the creation of a memorial in honor of Carolina in Sacramento. For Vera, the new space will be able to better accommodate the writer's collection that is in the city of Minas Gerais. According to her, the place that currently houses part of Carolina's manuscripts does not have adequate conditions to preserve the material and allow access to the public. “We have been fighting for many years to get Carolina out of prison. She's in prison, right? They say it’s an archive, but she’s in prison”, Vera quips about the building where the collection is currently located, which is an old jail.
The IMS and the Afro Brasil Museum, in the capital of São Paulo, also keep some of the material relating to the author's life and work.
Source: CNN Brasil
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