José Martiniano De Alencar

Jose de Alencar is Brazil's major novelist and its best exponent of Indianism and regionalism. Born in Ceara on May 1, 1829, Alencar completed his early schooling in Rio de Janeiro. In 1850, he graduated from law school in Sao Paulo and then went on to practice law in Rio while teaching business law at the Instituto Comercial. Alencar adored his people and his native land. Alencar's profound love for anything Brazilian inspired much of his work, including the descriptive embellishments found in his poem-like novels Iracema (1865) and The Guarani (1857). Iracema, the only work available in translation, is the love story of an Indian princess and a Portuguese officer. Its theme of two races uniting to form a new American people is also found in other works by Alencar.