Calunga

"Lima's novels are being republished; hence the author of Invenção de Orfeu (see HLAS 18:2799) and the poem 'Essa Negra Fulô' is becoming recognized as a novelist. Present work depicts conditions of Brazil's Northeast. A native of the region, protagonist Lula Bernardo prospers elsewhere and returns to his old home, the area of lakes, lagoons, and ponds where poverty, misery, and disease prevail. Social realism novel is rich in vivid descriptions of the ignorance of the people, their submission to a perverted landowner, and the destructive and emblematic role of a calunga - a whirling,…