In 1935, Monteiro Lobato once again set out to look for oil.
- Typed letter signed by Monteiro Lobato to Manoel Ganisto.
- One page.
- In Portuguese.
- 22 cm x 28.5 cm.
- February 10, 1935, Sao Paulo.
- With three photographs of an oil well, each 11 cm x 6.5 cm.
- Excellent condition of conservation.
- Single set.
Extract from the letter
(...) My dear friend, I am a literary geek. I have always been concerned with them by accident, although in essence I have been nothing more than a man of letters. I have had my Ingres guitars, and many others. A thousand businesses, industries, the devil. Several failures. In New York, I learned how to become a millionaire by force and I ruined myself on the stock market. Now I am trying again for the "big shot" and this time with oil. I formed the Petroleos do Petroleo Company and I am drilling. We have a beautiful well already 1,100 meters deep, and we are full of hope of touching a large formation of the precious liquid that governs the world. I am including some photos of our probe or the Araquá Oil Field, as we call it.
The tremendous underground struggle that oil research is causing (the fight against the Standard Oil plague) absorbs all my time and activity. I have no time left for literature or reading. I am becoming illiterate, this delight.
I greatly admire your perseverance, my friend, in always staying in the same field, lovingly cultivating the spirit and following from afar the literary activity of this South American China. What patience and what useless work! We are still a great zero in the world and we will remain so for a long time to come because Brazilians suffer from a very serious illness. Imagine that Brazilians do not think with their brains. They think with some other organ of the body that I have not yet discovered what it is. The stupid things we do through what we call the Government have led me to believe that it is impossible for us to think with our brains. Is it with our heels? Is it with our testicles? That is the problem. (...)
Lobato He is practically the founder of modern Brazilian children's literature. He managed to enchant generations of children and adults with his very simple language. His works, especially the 23 volumes of Sítio do Pica Pau Amarelo, are part of Brazilian culture and are known internationally; there are even translations in China.
However, we cannot talk about Monteiro Lobato without remembering his political involvement and the controversial issues in which he had been involved, particularly oil. Exactly 80 years ago, Brazil discovered its first oil well, in Salvador (Bahia). Without his grandfather's inheritance and without his publishing house, he invested in oil research and prospecting both to establish himself as an entrepreneur and to give Brazil the opportunity to develop more quickly and independently.
Publicly criticizing the association between the Brazilian government and the American oil company Standard Oil, he criticized President Getúlio Vargas for prioritizing the interests of the Brazilian state. This battle led to the writer's imprisonment from January to June 1941.
Ironic, critical, controversial... This shocking letter and these unpublished photographs, recently found in France, show how the writer was a very well-informed citizen, an intellectual with strong convictions and a bold businessman, especially when it came to oil. A very important piece for those who love Brazilian literature and history, or simply admire one of the greatest Brazilian writers.
