The slum
Subtitle: a novel
By: by Aluísio Azevedo ; translated from the Portuguese by David H. Rosenthal ; with a foreword by David H. Rosenthal and an afterword by Affonso Romano de Sant'Anna.
Contributors: Rosenthal, David, 1945-
Series: Library of Latin America
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Oxford; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 222
Description: "First published in 1890, and undoubtedly Azevedo's masterpiece, The Slum is one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed novels ever written about Brazil.".

"The Slum thrives on two intersecting story lines. In one narrative, a penny-pinching immigrant landlord strives to become a rich investor and then discards his black lover for a wealthy white woman. In the other, we witness the innocent yet dangerous love affair between a strong, pragmatic, "gentle giant" sort of immigrant and a vivacious mulatto woman who both live in a tenement owned by the landlord.

The two immigrant heroes are originally Portuguese, and thus personify two alternate outsider responses to Brazil. As translator David H. Rosenthal points out in his useful Introduction: one is the capitalist drawn to new markets, quick prestige, and untapped resources; the other, the prudent European drawn moth-like to "the light and sexual heat of the tropics.""--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-222).