I have been absent from Booki recently, mostly due to work, but also because I spend more time writing for another website of mine, Estação Resiliência. However, I will also try to create more content here, even if the articles are shorter.
“The farse of good laziness” (in Portuguese: A farsa da boa preguiça”) is a comedy theater play from 1960, written by Ariano Suassuna. Ariano is a great intellectual from Paraíba, northeast state of Brazil, and he was a great enthusiast of the Brazilian language and culture, especially literature. The northeast region of Brazil is known for its hardships, severe drought in most parts, and misery. From 1950s, when the Brazilian population profile changed from rural to urban prevalence, many people from the northeast moved to the southeast, in search of job opportunities and a better life. However, these people suffered (and still suffer) a lot of prejudice. I will further dig into this lamentable context when I publish articles on northeast authors who addressed the drought and socioeconomic issues in modern literature times. I just wanna say, for now, that Suassuna is one of the authors who helped spread the northeast culture in a light, playful, and friendly manner.
Back to the book, “The farse of good laziness” is the story of two neighbors: Simão, a proud poor poet, and Aderaldo, a proud rich bourgeois. The main debate and criticism presented by the book is the difference between corrupted laziness and creative laziness, and how it is necessary to balance work, contemplation, and rest. Both men are frustrating, in my opinion, since Simão is too conceited as a poet to lift a finger and provide for his family, and Aderaldo is too obsessed with work to find the heart to be charitable. Both men are also cheating (or trying to cheat) on their wives, so you can hardly sympathize with any of them. Therefore, both men are challenged by the saints who watch them over their journey, and Simão, supported by his devoted wife, is saved from damnation.
Nevertheless, Aderaldo is unable to save himself or his futile wife. The couple is dragged to hell because they could not find who would pray for them, so they could not repent of their sins. Aderaldo’s last words are Ariano Suassuna’s strike on the people who will not support the great country and people of which Suassuna is so proud:
"My folks, farewell! Send my regards to the capitalists, the reactionaries, the surrendered, to those who do not want the national greatness nor the social justice!"
Finally, I also want to mention that the illustrations of the book are not only great, inspired by Cordel Literature drawings, but they are so special because they were made by his son, Manuel Dantas Suassuna, and his wife, Zélia Suassuna.
I am not aware if Suassuna’s books were ever translated into other languages, I believe that would be a quite challenging task. Not only the setting is very particular, but the language of the characters is very realistic, full of popular and regional expressions. However, I think there might be English subtitles to a movie based on his most famous book, "O Auto da Compadecida" (translated as “A dog’s will"), which is also a comedy, set in the northeast context.
Note: Cordel is a literary genre, written in melodic verses, printed as leaflets, usually based on oral narratives and followed by a characteristic illustration style.