Álvares de Azevedo

This article is about the Brazilian poet. For the nobleman, see Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo, Baron of Itapacorá.

Álvares de Azevedo
A picture of Azevedo taken during the late 1840s
Born	Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo 12 September 1831(1831-09-12) São Paulo City, São Paulo, Brazil
Died	25 April 1852(1852-04-25) (aged 20) Rio de Janeiro City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Cause of death	Horse fall that occasionally led to gastric inflammation
Resting place	Cemitério São João Batista, Rio de Janeiro City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Other names	Job Stern
Ethnicity	White
Alma mater	Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo
Occupation	Poet, playwright, short story writer, essayist, Law student
Notable works	Lira dos Vinte Anos, Noite na Taverna, Macário
Influenced by	Lord Byron, Alfred de Musset, François-René de Chateaubriand, Alphonse de Lamartine, Heinrich Heine, William Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Chatterton
Influenced	José Bonifácio the Young
Parents	Inácio Manuel Álvares de Azevedo Maria Luísa Mota Azevedo

Manuel Antônio Álvares de Azevedo (September 12, 1831 — April 25, 1852) was a Brazilian Romantic poet, short story writer, playwright and essayist. His work, characterized by heavy dualism and morbidity, gave him the epithet of "the Brazilian Lord Byron".

He is the patron of the second chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, and of the ninth chair of the Paulista Academy of Letters.

Biography

Azevedo was born into a wealthy family in São Paulo City, on September 12, 1831. Son of Law student Inácio Manuel Álvares de Azevedo and Maria Luísa Azevedo (née Mota), a popular belief says that he was born in the library of the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo, but he was actually born on the farmhouse of his maternal grandfather, Severo Mota. He also had a younger brother, called Inácio Manuel just like his father, but he would die in 1835, what would scar him for life.

In 1833, Álvares moved alongside his family to the city of Rio de Janeiro, and in 1840 he entered the Colégio Stoll in the bairro of Botafogo, being an excellent student. In 1844, he temporarily returns to São Paulo alongside his uncle, returning to Rio in the following year, where he ingressed the Colégio Pedro II.

Having graduated in 1846 of the Colégio Pedro II, he entered the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo in the following year, where he befriended the also poets José Bonifácio the Young (the step-grandson of José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva), Aureliano Lessa and Bernardo Guimarães. Along with those, he founded the mythical club "Sociedade Epicureia" ("Epicurean Society"), a club that promoted Epicureanism and Bohemianism as lifestyles, and he also planned a work in partnership with Lessa and Guimarães, the poetry book As Três Liras (in English: The Three Lyres) — however, the project did not come to fruition. The only remaining part of the project today is the book Lira dos Vinte Anos.

Because of his fragile health and due to the murky weather of São Paulo, Azevedo caught tuberculosis. Having quit his Law course and moving to his grandfather's farm in Rio in order to mitigate his disease, there he fell from a horse and contracted a gastric inflammation that made him die on April 25, 1852. He was buried one day later at the Cemitério São João Batista.

Works

Due to his premature death, all of Álvares' works were published posthumously.

• Lira dos Vinte Anos (1853 — poetry anthology)
• Macário (1855 — theatre play)
• Noite na Taverna (1855 — short story book, under pen name Job Stern)
• O Conde Lopo (1886 — an epic poem that remains only in fragments today)

Álvares also wrote many letters and essays, and translated into Portuguese Lord Byron's poem "Parisina" and William Shakespeare's Othello's fifth act.

References

• ALVES, Maria C. R. O Poeta-Leitor: Um Estudo das Epígrafes Hugoanas em Álvares de Azevedo. USP, 1999.
• CUNHA, Cilaine Alves. O Belo e o Disforme. EDUSP, 2000.
• CUNHA, Cilaine Alves. Entusiasmo Indianista e Ironia Byroniana. EDUSP, 2000.

External links

• Álvares de Azevedo's biography at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Portuguese)

Preceded by New creation

Brazilian Academy of Letters - Patron of the 2nd chair

Succeeded by Coelho Neto (founder)

Persondata
Name	Azevedo, Manuel Antônio Álvares de
Alternative names
Short description	Brazilian poet, essayist, short story writer and playwright
Date of birth	September 12, 1831
Place of birth	São Paulo City, São Paulo, Brazil
Date of death	April 25, 1852
Place of death	Rio de Janeiro City, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil