The Apprentice Tourist

by Mário de Andrade, Flora Thomson-DeVeaux (Translation)

'My life's done a somersault,' wrote acclaimed modernist writer Mário de Andrade. After years of dreaming about Amazonia, he finally embarked on a three-month odyssey up the great river and into the wild heart of his native Brazil with a group of avant-garde luminaries. All abandoned ship but a socialite, her two nieces, and, of course, the author himself. And so begins the humorous account of Andrade's steamboat adventure into one of the most dangerous and breathtakingly beautiful corners of the world.

Rife with shrewd observations and sparkling wit, his sarcastic, down-to-earth diary entries not only offer comedic and awe-inspiring details of life and the landscape but also trace his internal metamorphosis: his travels challenge what he thought he knew about the Amazon, and drastically alter his understanding of his motherland.

Genres: Brazil, Nonfiction, Travel, Memoir, Classics, Literature

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Mário Raul de Morais Andrade was a Brazilian poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian and critic, and photographer. One of the founders of Brazilian modernism, he virtually created modern Brazilian poetry with the publication of his Paulicéia Desvairada (Hallucinated City) in 1922. He has had an enormous influence on Brazilian literature in the 20th and 21st centuries, and as a scholar and essayist—he was a pioneer of the field of ethnomusicology—his influence has reached far beyond Brazil.
Andrade was the central figure in the avant-garde movement of São Paulo for twenty years. Trained as a musician and best known as a poet and novelist, Andrade was personally involved in virtually every discipline that was connected with São Paulo modernism, and became Brazil's national polymath. He was the driving force behind the Week of Modern Art, the 1922 event that reshaped both literature and the visual arts in Brazil. After working as a music professor and newspaper columnist he published his great novel, Macunaíma, in 1928. At the end of his life, he became the founding director of São Paulo's Department of Culture, formalizing a role he had long held as the catalyst of the city's—and the nation's—entry into artistic modernity.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Hanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lol this is such a niche book I guess why does it only have 14 ratings on goodreads??? Like not even reviews just 14 ratings? And only one review 😭 Adds up because it was the only copy of it in the travel section of Barnes&Noble lol and only like 1 of 3 books about Brazil (1 was a travel guide). Anyway picked this up because it’s a famous Brazilian author who documents his 3-month journey thru the Amazon and I will be visiting the Amazon in October (and I’m currently living in Brazil) so thought it would be a cool read. Overall, there was lots of nonsense in here and a lot of boring stuff but you can tell he’s a poet because some lines and paragraphs were beautiful and so well-written. I enjoyed it and his commentary on Brazil but I’m glad it was only 160 pages lol.

[Olivia Cyrus · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Apprentice Tourist" is an entertaining animated novel that reveals more about the narrator’s own notions of the cultures and environments in which he indulges as opposed to the adventurous voyage itself. Playing on common stereotypes, fantastical images, and sociological references, the author examines the idyllic and substandard elements of Brazil, as well as his those of his own beliefs. A fairly intriguing novel to those that are interested in fiction that reads like an intimate diary or a piece of literary nonfiction; however, the unedited nature of this book may often find readers needing to step back ad catch a quick breathe of streamlined thinking and comprehensive understanding.

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eu fiquei tentada a dar 2 estrelas, mas porque tá mais pra 2,5. Não sei muito bem como explicar, mas esse livro simplesmente não bateu com meu santo, achei confuso e difícil de entender muitos termos e gírias, por mais que mario tenha sido um grande escritor e folclorista dentro de uma enormidade de coisas, e com um ótimo senso de humor, esse é um livro que deixou poucas marcas e poucos interesses

[Julianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Work book club. I finished enough of it!

What a cheeky guy! Delightful and playful language with tremendously fine descriptions of sunsets and heat and flowers and fruit.

His faux anthropological studies of indigenous were so fantastical but much preferable to the alternative—self-serious attempts at cataloguing otherized peoples.

[Adam Nissen Feldt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that will immediately go on my shelf of books that teaches you how to write. It took me forever to sail through the Amazon with Andrade. Life on board. But every few pages I found these bursts of wit, imagination and just brilliant ideas, lies and parables, making previous pages of dull travel notes fully sufferable. All in all a completely charming read.

[Marcus Gasques · Rating 4 out of 5]

"O turista aprendiz", de Mário de Andrade, é uma publicação da editora "Tinta da China”. Traz 14 fotos feitas pelo autor e mapas. Foi organizada por Flora Thomson De Veaux, diretora de pesquisa da Rádio Novelo. Ela traduziu para o inglês esse mesmo livro e "Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas", de Machado de Assis.
Mário de Andrade já pesquisava trabalhos de antropólogos e exploradores sobre povos originários do Brasil. Tinha muito interesse pelo folclore e pela cultura popular. Um ano após escrever "Macunaíma", foi convidado para participar de uma expedição à Amazônia por Olívia Guedes Penteado, patrocinadora das artes, amiga de artistas modernistas e militante pelo direito voto para as mulheres.
Entre maio e agosto de 1927, Mário de Andrade fez a jornada que ele mesmo descreve como "Viagem pelo Amazonas até o Peru, pelo Madeira até a Bolivia e por Marajó até dizer chega”.
"O turista aprendiz" reúne descrições dos cenários, habitantes das cidades e da floresta, e personagens embarcados — como Olívia e suas convidadas Balança e Trombeta.
A obra é considerada um clássico da literatura de viagem. É um diário de bordo que oferece um ritmo agradável de leitura. Entre seus relatos, há observações maldosas e, claro, escapadas pelo universo da ficção.
Por conta de Olívia Guedes Penteado, Mário de Andrade é recebido com a baronesa do café por autoridades em cada lugar em que a embarcação aporta. Ele fica enfastiado, porém não deixa de descrever e elogiar cada refeição que o encanta. O que inclui tartarugas. Não raro, suas observações são as de uma pessoa bem nutrida da aristocracia paulistana.
Entre suas anotações, o autor registra cada agrupamento indígena visitado. Por vezes, faz observações banais de um turista. Em outros casos, encanta-se com a musicalidade de um grupo. Lembrando que Mário de Andrade também era músico e estudioso da música.
A viagem foi em 1927, ano em que, entre outras restrições, mulheres ainda não tinham o direito de votar. O olhar sobre elas estava longe de ser lisonjeiro, para dizer o mínimo. Mas é estranho ler nas palavras de um dos fundadores do modernismo referências questionáveis às mulheres. Como esta: "Não cantam nada estas praias, bonitas por demais pra serem também inteligentes, como sucede com as mulheres.”
Incomodam também as anotações do autor sobre embarcações abarrotadas de madeiras nobres partindo para os Estados Unidos. A pilhagem da Amazônia vem de longe. Uma conduta então naturalizada, como também a exploração de animais.
Além de se deliciar com carne de tartaruga e reclamar da carne dura de papagaio, Mário de Andrade comprou e ganhou peles de tamanduás, cobras, onças, lontras, preguiças e bugios. Cascos de tartaruga ainda serviram como matéria prima para peças de artesanato encomendadas por ele.
Além de recomendar a leitura, eu gostaria muito de repetir esse roteiro de Mário de Andrade. Apesar de, um século depois, a Amazônia já não ser mais a mesma que ele viu.

[Book Post Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Apprentice Tourist is little more than a collection of notes he took on this adventure. It’s hard for him to take himself seriously as an interpreter of Brazil, as guide to the mysteries. He doesn’t want to be guide to the mysteries. His tone is one of merry irritation. It’s hot. Remarkably hot." -Joy Williams

Read the full review here: https://books.substack.com/p/review-j...

[Rolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who lived in Amazonia for two years, this made me nostalgic, especially for Manaus and Itacoatiara. That said, while the prose is often charming, it is also very much a product of its time in how De Andrade talks about indigenous people.

[Crystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, the extremely anti-indigenenous (read: racist) thoughts and behavior of the author* made this impossible to enjoy as a 'playful romp.'

*This book is filed under biography/memoir by the publisher though some of the other reviewers are calling it a novel

[Andre Abukawa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante ler as observações de Maio de Andrade sobre a região Norte.

[Stuart]

Hints of Twain from his travelogues. Enjoyable!