On his birthday, patriotic writer Monteiro Lobato tells the story of his day-to-day life in prison, provoking his accusers.
- Historical letter from Monteiro Lobato to Leonor de Aguiar.
- In Portuguese.
- One page.
- In Portuguese.
- 21.4 cm x 28.5 cm.
- Sao Paulo, April 18, 1941.
- Low quality paper (obtained in prison by Lobato), restored in São Paulo by Manuel Ley Rodriguez, a specialist at the Pinacoteca.
- Unique piece.
Chain, 4/18/941
Leonor,
The carnations came to celebrate our table in this mine
day of years spent in prison - in the delicious prison that
I have arduously conquered at the cost of truths in the shadow of the safar-
dances. Today I complete a month, and I'm still stuck because despite
after being acquitted, there was an appeal and I have to wait for a new trial.
I moved my office here - but I have too many visitors
and the work doesn't pay off. When I get time off, I translate KIM,
of Kipling, and immerse myself body and soul in India. I do not give
general the taste of feeling trapped. In the company of the old lama
and Kim, marching along the Great Road to India, heading
to Benares, I indulge myself. I even got a chela (disciple) in
Eloy's person - an Alagoan goat with an incomparable mental development
stopped. It stopped at ten years old - Kim's age. Today at 5 in the morning,
It was still dark when my chela came to congratulate me and bring me a bu-
little flower. He has a huge admiration for me, and not
let me go - as good Indian chelas do not let go of the Masters.
“When you leave here, everything goes dark; when you come in, everything goes dark.”
illuminates. » He promoted me to lamp...
Today is cleaning day in our free room. They took it out into the garden.
the six beds and everything else, except the table at which I write and am knocking
this. They wash the room around me, and I enjoy the feeling of being an island.
All new in prison. How stupid the general is! He wanted to harm me and
It only managed to provide me with a very interesting experience.
When you go to UJB, ask Geraldo for a letter to Goes - read it and
congratulate me on my quiff.
Farewell, dear friend of the carnations. Rejoice
with what happens to the friend.
Lobato
On May 24, 1940, the writer Monteiro Lobato, in the midst of the Estado Novo dictatorship, wrote a letter to President Getúlio Vargas, followed by another to the Chief of the Army General Staff, criticizing the “negligence of the President of the Republic, in the face of the oil issue in Brazil, allowing the National Petroleum Council to delay the creation of the great oil industry in our country, to serve, solely and exclusively, the interests of the Standard-Royal Dutch trust”.
Found guilty of insulting the government and agents working in the oil sector, Lobato was accused of a crime against national security. On March 18, 1941, he was preventively arrested for having attempted to flee the country. Released on June 20, 1941, after an intense and media-covered defense by his lawyers, Lobato was imprisoned for three months in the same prison as Luís Carlos Prestes and Dilma Rousseff.
The value of a letter depends on many factors, and this one has several elements in its favor. Written by one of the most well-known Brazilian writers in Brazil and abroad to this day, on his birthday, during the historic episode of his standoff with the military dictatorship, this letter brings together everything that made Lobato famous: a lot of humor, plenty of provocation, a great literary style and immense culture. Certainly one of the most important Brazilian pieces in this collection.
