A descoberta da América pelos turcos

by Jorge Leal Amado de Faria

"Author seems to repeat himself in this arabesque version of the discovery of the Americas, revisiting the cocoa plantations in the south of Bahia and filling them with pseudo-poets, this time reciting their verses in Arabic. Despite their Arab dress and names, Amado's depictions of Syrian and Lebanese nationals and their descendants, known rather generically as turcos in Brazil, seem too familiar, particularly during visits to Amado's established milieu of the whorehouse and its residents-for-life. Perhaps more important than this presentation of worn characters during the first quarter of the 20th century is Amado's introduction to the novel; here the reader glimpses Amado's viewpoint vis-à-vis such subjects as author's rights, editions, re-editions, among others"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.