José de Alencar | |
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 José de Alencar, c. 1870 | |
| Born | José Martiniano de Alencar (1829-05-01)May 1, 1829 |
| Died | December 12, 1877(1877-12-12) (aged 48) |
| Pen name | Erasmo Ig |
| Occupation | Lawyer,politician,orator,novelist,dramatist |
| Alma mater | University of São Paulo |
| Literary movement | Romanticism |
| Notable works | O Guarani,Senhora,Lucíola,Iracema,Ubirajara |
| Spouse | Georgina Augusta Cochrane |
| Children | Augusto de Alencar,Mário de Alencar |
| Relatives | José Martiniano Pereira de Alencar,Leonel Martiniano de Alencar |
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José Martiniano de Alencar (May 1, 1829 – December 12, 1877) was a Brazilian lawyer, politician, orator, novelist and dramatist. He is considered to be one of the most famous and influential BrazilianRomantic novelists of the 19th century, and a major exponent of the literary tradition known as "Indianism". Sometimes he signed his works with thepen nameErasmo. He was patron of the 23rd chair of theBrazilian Academy of Letters.
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José Martiniano de Alencar was born in Messejana,Fortaleza,Ceará, on May 1, 1829, to politicianJosé Martiniano Pereira de Alencar and his cousin Ana Josefina de Alencar. His family was a rich and influential clan in Northeastern Brazil, his grandmother being famous landowner Barbara Pereira de Alencar, heroine of the Pernambucan Revolution. Moving toSão Paulo in 1844, he graduated inLaw at theFaculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo in 1850 and started his career in law inRio de Janeiro. Invited by his friendFrancisco Otaviano, he became a collaborator for the journalCorreio Mercantil. He also wrote manychronicles for theDiário do Rio de Janeiro and theJornal do Commercio. Alencar would compile all the chronicles he wrote for these newspapers in 1874, under the nameAo Correr da Pena.
It was in theDiário do Rio de Janeiro, during the year of 1856, that Alencar gained notoriety, writing theCartas sobre A Confederação dos Tamoios, under the pseudonymIg. In them, he bitterly criticized thehomonymous poem byGonçalves de Magalhães. Even the Brazilian EmperorPedro II, who esteemed Magalhães very much, participated in this polemic, albeit under a pseudonym. Also in 1856, he wrote and published underfeuilleton form his first romance,Cinco Minutos, that received critical acclaim. In the following year, his breakthrough novel,O Guarani, was released; it would be adapted intoa famous opera by Brazilian composerAntônio Carlos Gomes 13 years later.O Guarani would be first novel of what is informally called Alencar's "Indianist Trilogy" – a series of three novels by Alencar that focused on the foundations of the Brazilian nation, and on its indigenous peoples and culture. The other two novels,Iracema andUbirajara, would be published on 1865 and 1874, respectively. Although called a trilogy, the three books are unrelated in their plots.
Alencar was affiliated with theConservative Party of Brazil, being elected as a general deputy for Ceará. He was the Brazilian Minister of Justice from 1868 to 1870, having famously opposed the abolition of slavery.[1] He also planned to be a senator, but Pedro II never appointed him, under the pretext of Alencar being too young;[2] with his feelings hurt, he would abandon politics later.
He was very close friends with the also famous writerMachado de Assis, who wrote an article in 1866 praising his novelIracema, that was published the year before, comparing his Indianist works toGonçalves Dias, saying that "Alencar was in prose what Dias was in poetry". When Assis founded theBrazilian Academy of Letters in 1897, he chose Alencar as the patron of his chair.
In 1864 he married Georgina Augusta Cochrane, daughter of an eccentric British aristocrat. They would have six children –Augusto (who would be the BrazilianMinister of External Relations in 1919, and also the Brazilian ambassador in the United States from 1920 to 1924), Clarisse, Ceci, Elisa,Mário (who would be a journalist and writer, and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters) and Adélia. (It is implied that Mário de Alencar was actually an illegitimate son of Machado de Assis, a fact that inspired Assis to write his famous novelDom Casmurro.[3])
Alencar died inRio de Janeiro in 1877, a victim oftuberculosis. A theatre in Fortaleza, theTheatro José de Alencar, was named after him. His works were marked by the influence of his Roman Catholic faith.[4][5]
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| Preceded by New creation |  Brazilian Academy of Letters –Patron of the 23rd chair | Succeeded by Machado de Assis (founder) |
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