Tocaia Grande

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tocaia Grande ( Portuguese : Tocaia Grande. A Face Obscura ) is the third from last novel by the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado , which was published in Rio de Janeiro in 1984 . The translation into German by Andreas Klotsch came out in Berlin in 1986.

In tropical eastern Brazil , in the state of Bahia - around three days' journey from the district towns of Itabuna and Ilheus - after more than a decade of construction work, the town of Irisópolis - seat of a municipality - emerged from the hamlet of Tocaia Grande in the middle of the bushland on the Snake River at the beginning of the 20th century . The author writes about his book: "My heroes are poor farmers, bandits, workers, prostitutes, Arab immigrants and negroes, ..."

characters

  • Fazendeiro Colonel Boaventura da Costa Andrade from Estância , cocoa colonel, millionaire.
    • Ernestina, his wife, illiterate,
    • Venturinha, the couple's only son, doctor of rights, dandy ,
    • Adriana, the Colonel's aging mistress,
    • Sacramento, young girl, mistress of the colonel.
  • Captain Natário da Fonseca, officer of the National Guard, Curiboca from Propriá on the Rio São Francisco . First Jagunço, bodyguard, leader of a band of Capangas and later administrator of the colonel's estates.
    • Zilda, his wife,
    • Edu and Ernesto, sons of the couple,
    • Bernarda, Natário's godchild, whore, around 14 at the beginning of the novel.
  • Fadul Abdala, Arab trader from Lebanon , innkeeper, called Mr. Fadu, Natário's friend, maronite .
    • Dalila, whore, negress from the deep Sertão .
  • Farrier Castor Abdium da Assunção, called Feuerbrand, son of slaves, released negro, worships the Bantu gods, son of the god Xangô , builder of the first stone house (farrier) in Tocaia Grande.
    • Maria Jacinta, called Coroca, aging whore, capable of reading, writing and arithmetic.
    • Epifânia, bossy, cunning whore from São Cristóvão , negress, Macumba sorceress.
    • Zuleica, whore.
  • Peasant family from Maroim ,
    • Ambrósio, farmer,
    • Vanjé, farmer, his wife,
    • Diva, their daughter.

content

In particular, the first half of the book deals with heterosexuality in a number of forms. Mainly the male world dominating at the place of the action goes for docile whores. What else is going on? When Colonel Boaventura Andrade visits his most loyal follower and administrator, Captain Natário, in Tocaia Grande, he would rather not be reminded of the origin of the place name and the "political confusion" of that time. Tocaia Grande is called the Great Ambush. The captain had laid the latter to Colonel Elias Daltro's capangas seven years before the aforementioned visit. None of the opposing gunmen had escaped with their lives, and the bushland had belonged to Colonel Boaventura Andrade. As a thank you, the colonel had given his captain the patch of earth.

Natário only sporadically visits Tocaia Grande at first, but he proves to be the good spirit of the village. For example, when the three robbers Manezinho, Bastião da Rosa and Chico Serra ravage the shop of the dealer Fadul Abdala in his absence and nobody stands in the way of the criminals out of fear of death, the captain transports the three monsters to the afterlife at the next opportunity. Or when the growth of the Tocaia Grande area stagnated for years because it mainly houses whores and overnight drovers, Natário donated land to the farmer couple Vanjé and Ambrósio, who were driven out of Maroim by latifundia owners, and their extended family. Other vegetable growers and small animal breeders follow closely with their families. Cassava , beans, corn and also poultry and goats are sought-after commodities in the cocoa-growing area. Natário's wife Zilda moves to Tocaia Grande with the stately group of children. Natário has a country house built on Hauptmannshügel under the mulungu tree.

The wealthy Colonel Boaventura Andrade is worried. Venturinha, the only son, a doctor of law, is to succeed his father and initially administer the local estates legally. Instead, Venturinha has been enjoying herself in distant Rio de Janeiro for five years at the expense of her troubled dad.

Floods, caused by prolonged rain in the headwaters of the Schlangen River, only leave the newly built wooden bridge and more stable houses standing. All the crouched huts are washed away. After inspecting the damage, Colonel Boaventura Andrade says that this is the end of Tocaia Grande. For the captain, however, it is unshakably certain that the village will be resurrected in double size. That's why. But first the dreaded fever epidemic follows the receding flood - "an ancient scourge in the land of cocoa". The above-mentioned farmer Ambrósio and his daughter Diva are among the victims.

After the peasant family arrived, the then 14-year-old diva was sent to Fadul Abdula. The Turk , as the Tocaia-Grandesians call the Lebanese incorrectly, should, at the command of the captain, sell the newcomers the bare essentials on a credit basis to start with. Diva had asked the blacksmith Feuerbrand for directions and was led to the shop by the negro. The hut of the peasants from Maroim had not yet stood. So Diva had gone to sleep in Firebrand's hammock and had been deflowered by him that night. Diva had not been able to withstand the "goat smell" emanating from the blacksmith in the loincloth in the long run, had knocked out the good match with the blond, blue-eyed gringo Bastião da Rosa, left her parents' hut and went to the smithy for a fire . Little mulatto Cristóvão - called Tovo - was born. After Diva's death, Epifânia, one of Firebrand's former whores, had looked after the child.

After the shop of the "Turk" had been devastated by the three robbers (see above), the shopkeeper Fadul and the smith Feuerbrand had taken over the guarding of Tocaia Grandes. At most one of the two had ever traveled.

Before the showdown, which will be outlined below, there are also side stories worth mentioning: The smith Feuerbrand had horned his master, the Baron of Itauaçu, fled to the land of cocoa and finally - arrived in Tocaia Grande - as a blacksmith on his own Invoice can work. In addition, he had also treated ungulates. What's more - fire blight had not only pulled the teeth of donkeys, but also of local residents. No doctor practices in Tocaia Grande. At the age of 54, the whore Coroca - half reluctantly - still has a respected profession; becomes a midwife, becomes “the mother of life” in Tocaia Grande. Natário's godchild Bernarda works with Coroca as a whore in Tocaia Grande. The girl had fled to the bushland from the ongoing rapes of her own father. Natário had a small house built for the two women and made Bernarda pregnant. The expectant mother is madly in love with the captain and gives birth to his son Bernardo - called Nando.

Venturinha does not come to her senses. He does not go to his lawyer's office at home near his parents, but rather surrenders to idleness in Rio de Janeiro at the expense of his rich father. Colonel Boaventura dies of a stroke after reading a telegram from his ill-behaved son asking for funds for a longer European tour. For better or worse, Venturinha must return home and take over the father's property. Captain Natário will continue to manage the cocoa plantations. Natário, who had served the Colonel since he was seventeen, refuses and thus makes Venturinha an enemy, especially since he has also found Sacramento, the young lover of the deceased Colonel, to stay in Tocaia Grande. The very attractive girl had fled from Venturinha when he wanted to “catch” her as his whore. The insidious Venturinha sends the killer Espiridião after the captain. Bernarda received Natário to make love in her new little house. The killer accidentally shoots the young mother. Natário had previously asked Bernarda in vain to leave Tocaia Grande, which was threatened by Venturinha. Venturinha does not give up; accused Natário the felony and the law settles so justly as he needs it now: The land is built on in and around Tocaia Grande and grown had he inherited. The residents of Tocaia Grande defend themselves at gunpoint. In the end, the defenders must succumb to the superiority of armed men sent out by Venturinha. Venturinha has state power, in this case the judiciary and the military, behind it. After Natário was able to fend off the first attack, an arrest warrant for murder is issued against him. In the second onslaught of state power, all protagonists fall in the defensive battle. Captain Natário, now 42 years old, the “Turk” Fadul, the blacksmith Feuerbrand, the midwife Coroca and also the farmer Vanjé die in the hail of bullets from the attackers.

In the last action sequence of the novel, Natário, a very sure shooter, attacks the mounted coward Venturinha when he wants to enjoy the bloody spectacle that he has created himself in the manner of a general. The reader breathes a sigh of relief. The devious Venturinha apparently gets his deserved punishment after all.

shape

The end of the novel - Captain Natário puts on Venturinha - is presented in retrospect. Shortly before, the narrator had reported that the shooter Natário had died in a defensive battle.

Jorge Amado proves to be a social critic when he writes about the cocoa monoculture established at the scene: “The majority [of the Indians] had been killed because they were of no use whatsoever for cocoa production. The escaped survivors tried to stay in a few areas of retreat, ... “In this context, the punch line of the extensive text suggests a bitter truth: Those who were committed to the development of Tocaia Grande are assassinated on behalf of a man, who as a whole Life has not yet achieved anything, but who knows how to exercise power right away.

In addition to the executors of state power, the appearance of the Catholic Church is treated with biting ridicule. Even the chapter heading in question suggests with ironically retrograde anachronism: “The Inquisition is haunted by Tocaia Grande, with embarrassing questioning ...” The Fathers Siegmund von Gotteshammer and Theun von der Holy Eucharist make during their mission through the Brazilian bush in Tocaia Grande Stop, question naive residents and have a high cross made of brazil wood erected. Before they both move on, they curse the place and excommunicate its residents. The bad conclusion fits that. Ultimately, it is the ruling society and its legislation that executes the unfortunate.

The narrator speaks at the lowest level: "Fadul ... rode to Tocaia Grande ... to the ass of the world!" Or: "Janjão, who had shit on his head instead of brain mass ..."

Long before the love story between Bernarda and Captain Natário is told, the reader finds out its end. Bernarda lets a gypsy predict the future of this love by reading the lines of the hand: "You will die in his arms ..."

Politicians and especially judges get off badly. Colonel Boaventura had his son trained as a lawyer because the deceit and falsehood of politicians are only surpassed by the judiciary.

The reader learns a lot about the way of life of the farmers in the Brazilian bushland. The farmers build their huts on stilts to protect against the poisonous snakes . Under the living space in the Koben pigs occasionally bite snakes to death. One resident holds a boa against the poisonous snakes .

TV series

  • 1995/1996 TV Brasília (Rede Manchete), Rio de Janeiro: Tocaia Grande - series by Duca Rachid and Walter Avancini with Roberto Bonfim as Natário, Taís Araújo as Bernarda, Marcelia Cartaxo as the farmer Vangé, Alexandre Zacchia as Fadul, Carla Regina as the diva and Dalton Vigh as Venturinha.

German-language literature

First editions

GDR

  • Jorge Amado: Tocaia Grande. Novel. Translated from the Portuguese by Andreas Klotsch . Volk und Welt, Berlin 1986. 576 pages (used edition).

FRG

Secondary literature

  • Erhard Engler : Jorge Amado. Tocaia Grande . In Weimar articles 9/1988.
  • Erhard Engler: Jorge Amado. The magician from Bahia . edition text + criticism. Pp. 150–153 (series of writing elsewhere , ed. Renate Oesterhelt) Munich 1992, 180 pages, ISBN 3-88377-410-3

Remarks

  1. ↑ Further location information : The Taquaras market can be reached (edition used, p. 119, 16. Zvo).
  2. ↑ Jorge Amado writes on p. 242, 9. Zvu of the edition used: " Slavery was abolished more than twenty years ago ". Brazil is now a republic (edition used, p. 126, 9th Zvu).
  3. ↑ Jorge Amado invented the name Irisópolis (Engler anno 1992, p. 150, 17. Zvo).
  4. ↑ A Capanga is hired for armed raids.
  5. ↑ Coroca - the Marode (used Edition, pp 47, 12 ZVO); gaunt, dried up, light as a feather (edition used, p. 172, 21. Zvo).
  6. ↑ For example, the manly widow Jussara Ramos Rabat from Lagarto seeks out the potent Fadul for the mating in Tocaia Grande. Jorge Amado describes the “ Furor Uterino ” (edition used, p. 167, 6. Zvu): The innkeeper “gave his beating freedom, which hurt with impatience and stiffness ... The mouth of the world, wet and eager, swallowed it Beatings of the Lebanese Kaziken ... ”(edition used, p. 156, 7th Zvu). The author dismisses Jussara from the novel soon afterwards (edition used, p. 167, 4th issue).
  7. ↑ Jorge Amado may mean Itauçu .
  8. ↑ In particular, Jorge Amado puts a judiciary in the pillory, which makes its contribution when the person becomes a criminal. For example, the young person Natário had come under the protection of the colonel when he was chased by the judiciary (edition used, p. 500, 14th Zvu).
  9. ↑ At the time the novel was set, the Inquisition had been abolished in the former Portuguese Brazil a hundred years earlier under the impact of the French Revolution .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Engler anno 1992, p. 170, penultimate entry
  2. ↑ Edition used, p. 83, 9. Zvo
  3. ↑ Jorge Amado, quoted in Engler anno 1992, p. 150, 10. Zvu
  4. ↑ port. Propriá
  5. ↑ engl. Jagunço
  6. ↑ Port. Maruim (Sergipe)
  7. ↑ engl. Erythrina mulungu
  8. ↑ Edition used, p. 438, 9. Zvo
  9. ↑ Edition used, p. 357, 16. Zvo
  10. ↑ Edition used, p. 89, 7th Zvu
  11. ↑ Edition used, p. 152, 12. Zvu
  12. ↑ Edition used, p. 183, 15. Zvu
  13. ↑ Edition used, p. 102, 13. Zvo
  14. ↑ Edition used, p. 126, 20. Zvo
  15. ↑ 50 min video on YouTube: Tocaia Grande
  16. ↑ Port. Tocaia Grande
  17. ^ Port. Duca Rachid
  18. ↑ port. Taís Araújo
  19. ^ Tocaia Grande in the IMDb