Ramos, Graciliano

Austin. 1965. University Of Texas Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Slightly Worn Dustjacket. Illustrated by Charles Umlauf. Translated from the Portuguese by Ralph Edward Dimmick. 131 pages. hardcover. Cover art by Charles Umlauf. keywords: Literature Translated Brazil Latin America. FROM THE PUBLISHER - BARREN LIVES could take place nowhere save in the drought-ridden interior of northeastern Brazil. (The literal meaning of the Portuguese title, Vidas SEcas, ‘Dry Lives,' reflects both the parched atmosphere of the region and the desiccating effect it has on the existence of its inhabitants.) No aspect of the area has attracted greater attention, doubtless by reason of the dramatic effects it offers, than the terrible droughts that periodically visit the backlands. Only a hardy breed could survive such trials, especially when prospects of reward are so few. Fabiano and his family own little more than the clothes on their backs. Fabiano is a good herdsman, and the ranch prospers under his management as long as the rains come. He gets no thanks from the proprietor, however, whose conversation with his employee usually takes the form of a dressing-down. By a skillful system of advances of money and overcharges for interest, the proprietor sees, moreover, that little or nothing in the form of wages comes into Fabiano's hands at the end of the year. Tradesmen cheat the ranch hand, townspeople scorn him as a bumpkin, a policeman avenges his ill luck at cards by throwing him into jail. Yet Fabiano accepts all this abuse as his natural lot; so was his father used before him, and he has only vague illusions that his sons may know a better life. The height of his wife's ambition is ownership of a single piece of furniture, a comfortable bed. inventory #15445