This post is a summary of two reports: 1) ¨Fresh look for author, and for land he lauded¨. Published at NYTimes.com at November,21,2011. And written by Simon Romero. 2) ¨Brazil complete 70 years-old as country of the future.¨ Published at Economia.IG.com.br at January,28,2011. And written by Patrick Cruz.
When the viennese-born writer Stefan Zweig moved in 1941 to the Petrópolis, nestled in the mountains near Rio de Janeiro, he was one of world`s most translated author, renowned for his taut novellas exploring passion, obsession and despair. But after Mr. Zweig, despondent over the advances of the nazis, took his own life here at the age 60 in a suicide pact with his wife, he became known in his adopted country for creating one of most hackneyed phrases ever associated with Brazil: ¨country of the future¨.
Derived from the title of his 1941 book praising Latin America largest country. The phrase got expanded and recycled ad nauseam as a refrain, ¨Brazil, country of the future, and always will be¨ used to cassualy dismiss a nation long plagued by high inflation and entrenched corruption.
The house where Mr.Zweig took his own life is set to reopen soon as a museum, meanwhile brazilian writers and historians have been reflecting on the significance of ¨land of the future¨, and some of the political intrigue surrounding its publication 70 years ago.
In a recent televised discussion of Zweig, Alcino Leite, editor of Publifolha, compared his importance in Brazil to that in the United States of Alexis Tocqueville, the french thinker who wrote about american concepts of liberty and equality in ¨Democracy in America¨.
¨We had Stefan Zweig,¨ said, Mr. Alcino, ¨who left us this book advocating tolerance, comprehension, an indictment in favor of peace, written during world war II.¨ Mr. Zweig`s reappraisal in Brazil, coincides with renewed crisis in Europe, and with a new wave of portuguese emigration to Brazil, but this time of unemployed professionals, some of those seeking opportunity may even know that Mr.Zweig remain highly esteemed in parts of Europe, especially in France, where his books are still widely available. Strangely, Mr. Zweig`s book was fiercely criticized in Brazil shortly after his publication. Critics laid waste to the writer with vehemence, opening him to insinuation that he was paid by the authoritarian regime of Getulio Vargas to write the book. But the author of numerous best sellers had little need for Brazil`s financial support.
In 1941, Brazil had a little more of 40 millions of inhabitants and 56% of them were illiterate. The coffee was a third of exports, and a third of the children were out of school, but nothing of this diminished the optimism of Stefan Zweig, a renowned writer, published in that year ¨Brazil, country of the future¨, book that gave to Brazil a surname. The book is a exercise of excitement and jingoism. He said,¨I was fascinated not only by the unique combination of sea and mountain, but also for a new species of civilization¨. And thus follows the text, between descriptions of the vastness of the territory, the possibilities of rich soils ( for agriculture and mining ) and the mild and unarmed spirit of the people.
Although it is a collection of praise, the book is not without a critical sense, Zweig notes that public health was the Achilles heel of the country, and the poverty in the countryside, in faraway places from the cities is another misfortune attested for him.
Laud - praise highly
Taut - tense
Ad nauseam - an annoying excessive extent
Despondent - in low spirits from loss of hope
Hackneyed - unoriginal and used too often
Entrench - so firmly established that change is difficult
Achilles heel - a weak point
Jingoism - excessive pride in your country
illiterate - unable to read or/and write
