Glenn Alan Cheney's Blog, page 2
October 18, 2016
João do Rio--Literary Journalist
João do Rio was a journalist at the turn of the 19th-20th century. He lived and worked in Rio de Janeiro. It was an interesting time to be there. Rio was booming as Brazil shifted from the old Portuguese monarchy to a shaky, hopeful, republican government. The city itself was a seething, boisterous conglomeration of old-school descendants of Portugal, descendants of immigrants who had been brought from Africa as slaves, and immigrants from all over the world.
The multi-ethnic population brought together a mish-mash of religions. Some were derivative of African beliefs, some ancient religions from the Middle East, some the Catholic and Protestant sects of Europe and North America.
João do Rio (his real name was João Paulo Emílio Cristóvão dos Santos Coelho Barreto, born in 1881, died in 1921--see Wikipedia for more information) was a literary journalist who went after deeper truths. He went where he had to go to see what other reporters ignored. His Religions in Rio, recently translated by Dr. Ana Lessa-Schmidt, explores the dark alleys and slums of Rio to look into Positivism, Satanism, the Cult of the Sea, Judaism, The New Jerusalem, and several others.
Here's an excerpt, from the chapter titled "The Priestesses." You will note how the English is a little awkward, both tight and contorted. Thus it is in Portuguese, too, going beyond standard language.
"The future is the vague and polymorphous god who presides over our destiny from among the stars, the incomprehensible and frightening god of the Bohemians in the caravans of Asia, the hidden Force, the invisible danger. Hugo and Alencar1 believed in that divinity, and among the gods there is no one who has a greater number of priests and priestesses.
"Only the worshippers of the Future are able to modify fatality, ward off death, shake the golden bag of fortune, release the laughter of joy within the sadness of the centuries. The priestesses of the tremendous God infest our city, take hold of all neighborhoods, predict the fate of the rich, make up an exotic and complex world of fortunetellers, necromancers, somnambulist seeresses, palmists, graphologists, sorcerers, and witches.
"These people heal, save, undo woes, lift the veil of fortune, make people wait, make people believe. They live in beautiful buildings, in shacks, in small houses - they are the set of modern pythonesses, distributors of oracles. Amid such a varied bunch there will be ignorant people – the majority are fortunetellers who can see narrow paths and wide paths in the cards, and they don’t even know how to deal the deck; fake somnambulists; Portuguese and mulatto women who appropriate the molds of Africans; and intelligent women who talk and discuss."
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You can read more at NLLibrarium.com. You might also be interested in the translator's blog at https://analessaschmidt.wordpress.com... .
The multi-ethnic population brought together a mish-mash of religions. Some were derivative of African beliefs, some ancient religions from the Middle East, some the Catholic and Protestant sects of Europe and North America.
João do Rio (his real name was João Paulo Emílio Cristóvão dos Santos Coelho Barreto, born in 1881, died in 1921--see Wikipedia for more information) was a literary journalist who went after deeper truths. He went where he had to go to see what other reporters ignored. His Religions in Rio, recently translated by Dr. Ana Lessa-Schmidt, explores the dark alleys and slums of Rio to look into Positivism, Satanism, the Cult of the Sea, Judaism, The New Jerusalem, and several others.
Here's an excerpt, from the chapter titled "The Priestesses." You will note how the English is a little awkward, both tight and contorted. Thus it is in Portuguese, too, going beyond standard language.
"The future is the vague and polymorphous god who presides over our destiny from among the stars, the incomprehensible and frightening god of the Bohemians in the caravans of Asia, the hidden Force, the invisible danger. Hugo and Alencar1 believed in that divinity, and among the gods there is no one who has a greater number of priests and priestesses.
"Only the worshippers of the Future are able to modify fatality, ward off death, shake the golden bag of fortune, release the laughter of joy within the sadness of the centuries. The priestesses of the tremendous God infest our city, take hold of all neighborhoods, predict the fate of the rich, make up an exotic and complex world of fortunetellers, necromancers, somnambulist seeresses, palmists, graphologists, sorcerers, and witches.
"These people heal, save, undo woes, lift the veil of fortune, make people wait, make people believe. They live in beautiful buildings, in shacks, in small houses - they are the set of modern pythonesses, distributors of oracles. Amid such a varied bunch there will be ignorant people – the majority are fortunetellers who can see narrow paths and wide paths in the cards, and they don’t even know how to deal the deck; fake somnambulists; Portuguese and mulatto women who appropriate the molds of Africans; and intelligent women who talk and discuss."
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You can read more at NLLibrarium.com. You might also be interested in the translator's blog at https://analessaschmidt.wordpress.com... .
October 14, 2016
On Defense of the Human
The human spirit is in need of defense. There is too much in the world that would gladly kill it. The wealthy have little use for it, perhaps because they've already exchanged theirs for external assets. The greedy disregard it. Accountancy has no way to figure it into the bottom line. "Progress" almost always means bulldozing something human.
So I always have great respect for writers that defend the human spirit. Novelists bring it into focus for us. Poets make it sing. Singers make it soar. And essayists explore its depths and intricacies.
The Introduction to "The Best Chronicles of Rubem Alves," contributed by Ana Lessa-Schmidt, quotes something I said about Rubem Alves in an interview with her.
"[Alves's] style of writing is very modern. Short sentences. Simple words. This fact is quite significant because he uses simple words to explain matters that seem, on the surface, to be simple—the beauty of trees, the goodness of friends, the role of rituals, the warmth of candle light, the beauty of human life. But at the same time, he is writing of the depth behind simple things. He may be writing about the pleasures of sex, the meaning of names, the value of uselessness, but one needn’t read far before encountering the word "soul." I think it’s in every essay."
Ana went on to count 32 occurrences of the word in the 30 essays in the book. She counted the word "life" occurring 32 times, beating out "death" by five. She also counted the word "love." The word just happened to come up 240 times.
"Hate"? It failed to score. It isn't in there, not even once.
So I always have great respect for writers that defend the human spirit. Novelists bring it into focus for us. Poets make it sing. Singers make it soar. And essayists explore its depths and intricacies.
The Introduction to "The Best Chronicles of Rubem Alves," contributed by Ana Lessa-Schmidt, quotes something I said about Rubem Alves in an interview with her.
"[Alves's] style of writing is very modern. Short sentences. Simple words. This fact is quite significant because he uses simple words to explain matters that seem, on the surface, to be simple—the beauty of trees, the goodness of friends, the role of rituals, the warmth of candle light, the beauty of human life. But at the same time, he is writing of the depth behind simple things. He may be writing about the pleasures of sex, the meaning of names, the value of uselessness, but one needn’t read far before encountering the word "soul." I think it’s in every essay."
Ana went on to count 32 occurrences of the word in the 30 essays in the book. She counted the word "life" occurring 32 times, beating out "death" by five. She also counted the word "love." The word just happened to come up 240 times.
"Hate"? It failed to score. It isn't in there, not even once.
October 12, 2016
Rubem Alves—Brazilian Writer
Rubem Azevedo Alves (15 September 1933 – 19 July 2014) was a Brazilian theologian, philosopher, educator, writer and psychoanalyst. Alves was one of the founders of liberation theology. He was one of the most popular and widely loved writers in Brazil. Besides his activities as a university professor and researcher, Alves is a prolific writer of books and articles in journals and newspapers on education, psychology and life in general. He has published more than 40 books, several of which have been translated into German, French, English, Italian, Spanish and Romanian. He is also a very popular lecturer and is much appreciated by educators in general for his humanistic views on education.
Here's an excerpt from a book I just translated to English, "The Best Chronicles of Ruben Alves":
"Jesus was wise. He knew the secrets of the human heart. Unsurpassable psychoanalyst, he said, “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” (Matthew 12:35) In other words: we always find what we’re looking for. This applies to a reading of the Holy Scriptures. People who are full of fear, of vengeful sentiments, of authoritarianism, will find in the Bible threats, punishments, hells, a cruel and vengeful God that looks like them. All Gods are portraits of those who believe in them. It is possible to psychoanalyze a person by analyzing their religious thoughts and feelings. Those who are full of tender sentiments and who are therefore not motivated by fear (“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.” (1 John 4:18) will from their treasure bring forth ideas of beauty, goodness, and forgiveness. Their god looks a lot like a child, with no vengeance, punishment, or hell."
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You can download a free excerpt at NLLibrarium.com. You should really have a look at this guy's writings. Very interesting stuff.
Here's an excerpt from a book I just translated to English, "The Best Chronicles of Ruben Alves":
"Jesus was wise. He knew the secrets of the human heart. Unsurpassable psychoanalyst, he said, “A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” (Matthew 12:35) In other words: we always find what we’re looking for. This applies to a reading of the Holy Scriptures. People who are full of fear, of vengeful sentiments, of authoritarianism, will find in the Bible threats, punishments, hells, a cruel and vengeful God that looks like them. All Gods are portraits of those who believe in them. It is possible to psychoanalyze a person by analyzing their religious thoughts and feelings. Those who are full of tender sentiments and who are therefore not motivated by fear (“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.” (1 John 4:18) will from their treasure bring forth ideas of beauty, goodness, and forgiveness. Their god looks a lot like a child, with no vengeance, punishment, or hell."
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You can download a free excerpt at NLLibrarium.com. You should really have a look at this guy's writings. Very interesting stuff.
