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Because I have been reading Brazilian literature of late these entries have a stronger Brazilian flavor than might otherwise have been the case. On that note, here's an interesting claim that took me aback: by volume--meaning the sheer number of titles--half of all South American literature is Brazilian.
Home Pages
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~fiatlux/td/index.html
I have to admit that I'm fascinated by some of the stuff that individuals do on the web, the home grown sites that unabashedly flaunt the personal qualities of the creator. Vera Britto has been a frequent contributor to the lasnet archive. This is the address for her home pages. What a ball of fire this woman is. With a wide variety of academic interests (that apparently have gained her employment at the University of Michigan), an intense interest in Latin America and versatile web skills, she has put together some interesting material. What drives her I couldn't say (although the dedication at the index for "Talking about Development" suggests the tenor, if not the vehicle). From this home page you can go to her collection of interviews with individuals loosely defined as "development experts." These transcripts in the "Talking About Development" project offer some timely firsthand accounts of current work throughout Central and South America.
Editor’s note: Vera has apparently gone deep into commercial web design. As a consequence she has split off the “Talking About Development” project from a separate site she hosts for her business.
Publishers
http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/
in general I'm really surprised by how slowly the university presses have gone online. At the moment perhaps as few as a couple of dozen have web sites. This home page for the University of Arizona Press has an option to sort through their catalogue by subject. In this way you can isolate their Latin American titles (as well as the Native American books). They also have about a half dozen of their books available online... although most of these seem to be very obscure works. (Jesus Christ, who do you know who’s likely to buy a book about Arizona weeds?) Anyway, the setup is a portrait of what many more of the academic presses will eventually be doing on the web.
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http://www.atica.com.br
here is another example of a Latin American publisher on the world wide web. The site isn't as sophisticated as Aguilar, Taurus, Alfaguara de Argentina, but that will come with time I suspect. Although this site for Brazil's Atica Publishers does not have a full catalogue, nor will it allow you to purchase books online, they do have links to eight websites for Brazilian bookstores, which, in turn, are interesting places to browse.
Editor’s note: It didn’t take long for Atica to add their own shopping cart.
Author Pages
http://www.joycecavalccante.com/ingles.html
as I have said before, at the moment there aren't many examples of living Latin American authors putting up their own web sites. These pages (in English) for the young Brazilian writer, Joyce Cavalccante, are an exception I ran into on the literature page at lanic. I haven't read any of her books, but wow, does she ever have a fetching photograph of herself.
Editor’s note: Ah well, the photograph is gone, but there’s plenty of new work added.
Bibliography
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/benson/bibnot/bn-88.html
largely because of the work of the Russian scholar/literary theorist, Mikhail Bahktin, considerable contemporary social commentary has turned to the phenomenon of public festivals. This excellent, annotated bibliography, titled "Carnival in Brazil: Selected Sources," was compiled by Katherine McCann. In her bibliography you'll find references to the writing of the Brazilian sociologist Ronald Da Matta, as well as the literary treatments of carnival in the work of Alma Guillermoprieto and Joaquim María Machado de Assis.
Editor’s note: At the bottom of this web page you now have the option to go to the index for electronic editions of the last 50 bibliographic papers compiled by the staff of the Benson Latin American Collection at the University of Texas.
Reading List
www.mediacity.com/~marcio/index.html
Marcio Saito is the son of Japanese immigrants in Brazil. An electrical engineer, he landed a job in San Jose, California and lists here some of his favorite books. He used to read in Portuguese, but has now begun reading titles in English. He has a wicked sense of humor, reminiscent of his favorite author, and has an abiding interest in climbing. The chronicles of his mountain exploits also make for interesting reading.
Editor’s note: Marcio’s rise in the corporate world seems to have argued against hanging out a personal shingle. Nevertheless he seems to be doing well as VP for Cyclades Corporation.
Newspaper
http://www.estado.estadao.com.br/english/ind.html
NetEstado is, I think, an online version of a newspaper printed in São Paulo. My sense is that in some way the publication is tied to international industrial developers, transnational financial interests, and other assorted capitalists. At this page you'll find an option to access their weekly summary of news in English. This option will also present you with a smorgasbord of feature articles (in English) and an out-of-date collection of letters written to the editor. Among the articles I recommend, "Women Outline a Third World Big City" and "Three Women Change the Literature Academy Profile." Although there are many grammatical errors and spelling mistakes the authors are sensitive to matters of form. Their use of linked hypertext seems to lend itself to the subject matter.
Editor’s note: The address listed above now takes you to their main page. The English section seems to have disappeared, however, here’s the archived version.
May 11, 1998
