Academia Brasileira de Letras

From Freepedia

Academia Brasileira de Letras, or Brazilian Academy of Letters is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century by a group of 40 writers and poets inspired by the Académie Française. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on the December 15th, 1896, but the statutes were only passed on the January 28th, 1897 and on the July 20th of the same year the Academy was established. The Brazilian Academy of Letters is, according to its statutes, the authority on the "national language" of Brazil (Portuguese language). It is composed to this day of 40 members, known as "immortals", chosen among citizens of Brazil who have published recognized works or books of literary value. The position of "immortal" is awarded for lifetime. A new member is admitted by votation by the Academy members when one of the "chairs" become vacant. The chairs are numbered and have the names of their first incumbents. The academicians use formal gala gilded uniforms with sword (which is named "fardão") when participating in official meetings of the Academy. During periods of dictatorship and military régime, the Academy's neutrality in choosing proper members dedicated to the literary profession was stained by electing politicians with few or null contributions to the letters, such as the dictator Getúlio Vargas. One exception to this is former Brazilian president and senator José Sarney, who is a well published and incensed regional novelist on his own. The Academy, which was a purely male affair until the groundbreaking election of novelist Rachel de Queiroz in 1977 for chair No. 5, has now three women members (less than 10%, though), but one of them, Nelida Piñon, became a president in 1996.

The Academy, thanks to sound management and good revenues in excess of 4 million dollars a year, is well off financially. It owns a skycraper with 28 floors (Palácio Austregésilo de Athaide), in a valued area in the center of Rio, which the Academy rents for office space, generating 70% of its current revenue. The rest comes from rental of other buildings, which were legated by book editor Francisco Alves, in 1917, and from financial investments. This comfortable situation allows for paying a "jeton" to each academician. The ABL is located just by its side, in a beautiful neoclassical building, which is named "Petit Trianon". It was donated by the government of France in 1923 and is so named because it is a copy of the Petit Trianon palace in Versailles, near Paris, France.

It has recently inaugurated one of the largest public libraries in Rio, with 90,000 volumes and a huge multimedia center.

The Academy awards annually several literary prizes: the Prêmio Machado de Assis (the most important literature prize in the country, awarded for lifework), and the ABL prizes for poetry, for fiction and drama, for essays, critic and history of the literature, and for children's literature. In 2005 the Afonso Arino de Mello Franco Prize was also established.

Contents

Original Patrons

  1. Adelino Fontoura
  2. Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo
  3. Artur de Oliveira
  4. José Basílio da Gama
  5. Bernardo Guimarães
  6. Casimiro de Abreu
  7. Castro Alves
  8. Cláudio Manoel da Costa
  9. Domingos José Gonçalves de Magalhães
  10. Evaristo da Veiga
  11. Fagundes Varela
  12. Joaquim José França Júnior
  13. Francisco Otaviano
  14. Franklin Távora
  15. Antônio Gonçalves Dias
  16. Gregório de Matos
  17. Hipólito da Costa
  18. João Francisco Lisboa
  19. Joaquim Caetano da Silva
  20. Joaquim Manuel de Macedo
  21. Joaquim Serra
  22. José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva
  23. José de Alencar
  24. Júlio Ribeiro
  25. Junqueira Freire
  26. Laurindo Rabelo
  27. Maciel Monteiro
  28. Manuel Antônio de Almeida
  29. Martins Pena
  30. Pardal Mallet
  31. Pedro Luís
  32. Araújo Porto-Alegre
  33. Raul Pompéia
  34. Sousa Caldas
  35. Tavares Bastos
  36. Teófilo Dias
  37. Thomaz Antonio Gonzaga
  38. Tobias Barreto
  39. Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen
  40. Visconde do Rio Branco

Presidents of ABL

Current members

The members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (July of 2005):

Gallery of the Immortals

See also

Retrieved from "http://en.freepedia.org/Academia_Brasileira_de_Letras.html"


Views
Personal tools
In other languages
Similar Links