num_pages: 176
description: Jose de Alencar's prose-poem Iracema , first published in 1865, is a classic of Brazilian literature--perhaps the most widely-known piece of fiction within Brazil, and the most widely-read of Alencar;s many works. Set in the sixteenth century, it is an extremely romantic portrayal of a doomed live between a Portuguese soldier and an Indian maiden. Iracema reflects the gingerly way that mid-nineteenth century Brazil dealt with race mixture and multicultural experience. Precisely because of its nineteenth-century romanticism, Iracema strongly contributed to a Brazilian sense of nationhood--contemporary Brazilian writers and literary critics still cite it as a foundation for their own work.
language: English
title: Iracema
titlecomplete: Iracema (Library of Latin America)
characters: Iracema, Martim
genres: Romance, Fiction, Literature, Historical Fiction, Portuguese Literature, 19th Century, Brazil, Romanticism, School, Classics
ratings_count: 6415
publisher: Oxford University Press