[1] Many cultured Brazilians know English literature in the original. The essay here referred to was suggested to Verissimo by the book of a United States professor, Winchester, on Some Principles of Literary Criticism.
[2] A Modern Book of Criticism, New York, 1919. Page iii. The italics are mine.
[3] Mr. Havelock Ellis, writing in 1917 upon Rodó, (the article may be found in his book entitled The Philosophy of Conflict), expressed an opinion that comes pat to our present purpose. “ … Rodó has perhaps attributed too fixed a character to North American civilization, and has hardly taken into account those germs of recent expansion which may well bring the future development of the United States nearer to his ideals. It must be admitted, however, that if he had lived a few months longer Rodó might have seen confirmation in the swift thoroughness, even exceeding that of England, with which the United States on entering the war sought to suppress that toleration for freedom of thought and speech that he counted so precious, shouting with characteristic energy the battle-cry of all the belligerents, ‘Hush! Don’t think, only feel and act!’ with a pathetic faith that the affectation of external uniformity means inward cohesion.… Still, Rodó himself recognised that, even as already manifested, the work of the United States is not entirely lost for what he would call the ‘interests of the soul.’”
[4] For this discussion, which is of primary importance to students of Brazilian letters, see Verissimo’s Estudos, 6a serie, pages 1-14, and his Que é Literatura, Rio de Janeiro, 1907, pages 230-292.
[5] Pequena Historia da Literatura Brasileira. 2a Ed. Revista e augmentada. Rio, 1922. Pp. 344-345.
[6] This opinion he later rectified.
[7] In Studies in Spanish-American Literature (pages 98-99) I have discussed briefly this attitude of Verissimo’s. I do not believe the entire question to be of primary literary importance. It is the noun literature that is of chief interest; not the adjective of nationality that precedes it.
[8] Verissimo was born at Belem, Para, on April 8, 1857. He initiated his career as a public official in his native province, but soon made his way to the directorship of the Gymnasio Nacional, and then the Normal School of Rio de Janeiro. For a long time, concurrently with his scholarly labors, he edited the famous Revista Brasileira. His Scenes of Life on the Amazon have been compared to the pages of Pierre Loti for their exotic charm. He died in 1918.