The Life and Death of Carolina Maria de Jesus

by Robert M. Levine, José Carlos Sebe Bom Meihy

In the dozen years Carolina Maria de Jesus (1914-1977) lived in a São Paulo, Brazil, shanty slum, she survived by rummaging for junk. She also kept a diary of her abject poverty. Black, illegitimate, and poor, she suddenly became at age forty-six Brazil's best-selling author when a book drawn from her diaries appeared in 1960. An English translation, Child of the Dark , was published in 1962 and sold over 300,000 copies in the United States in a decade. Newsweek heralded her book as "a desperate, terrifying outcry from the slums of São Paulo . . . one of the most astonishing documents of the lower depths ever printed." Collaborating with a Brazilian colleague, Levine tells the story of Carolina's life, giving particular emphasis to the years following her publishing success, and engages in a provocative debate over what Carolina's life reveals about such issues as racism in Brazil, the rigidity of the country's class system, and the process of constructing an identity amid constant degradation and poverty.

Genres: Brazil, Biography

Paperback

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Robert M. Levine was Gabelli Senior Scholar in the Arts and Sciences, Director of Latin American Studies, and professor of history at the University of Miami.

Reviews

[Shannyn Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book now, I realize there are many deeper implications to the passages in "Child of the Dark" that I failed to pick up on. This book offers a great analysis of the role of Brazil's myth of "racial democracy," along with the legacy of populism, in creating the patronizing society that rejected Carolina, even after the success of her diary. I almost wish I had read this book before the diary because it offers so much context to explain how Carolina's decisions and her opinions were likely influenced and limited by larger traditions and social trends, while also demonstrating the various sacrifices Carolina made, even at the expense of improving her condition, in order to maintain autonomy for herself and her children.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating account of a very unusual woman who lived in a favela in Sao Paolo. The authors emphasize that her great strength was developing and maintaining a strong sense in spite of not being seen as a complete person by most of her society.