Literatura de cordel Brazilian chapbook collection
Contributors: Library of Congress. Library of Congress Office, Rio de Janeiro
Published: 1930
Language: por
Number of pages: 9000
Subjects: Brazilian Folk literature; Brazilian Chapbooks; Brazilian poetry; Popular literature; Portuguese Songs
Other titles: Brazilian chapbook collection
Description: Open collection of more than 9000 chapbooks dated from 1930 to the present created through annual accruals of chapbooks collected by the Library of Congress Office in Brazil. In the markets of northeast Brazil, where literatura de cordel is most popular, local poets hang their chapbooks from strings, hence the name literatura de cordel, which literally means "string literature." The poets, known as cordelistas, entertain the market crowd by reciting their narrative poems about current events, morality, or the adventures of a famous folk hero. Chapbooks are illustrated by woodcut prints, photographs, and other cover art. The collection also contains thirteen 7-inch tapes of romances and other songs recorded by Sol Biderman in northeastern Brazil, circa 1968-1970, numbered SR01-SR13.
Notes: Access restrictions apply; some or all content stored offsite. Please contact the Folklife Reading Room before requesting materials:  folklife@loc.gov ; 202-707-5510.

Literatura de Cordel Brazilian Chapbook Collection (AFC 1970/002), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Duplication of the collection materials may be governed by copyright and other restrictions.

Sol Biderman ; Donation ; 1970.

Library of Congress Office, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ; Transfer ; 1970 - to date.

J. Borges prints are in the Brazilian Woodcut Prints Collection (AFC 1999/033), Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

In Portuguese.

Slater, Candace. Stories on a string: the Brazilian literatura de cordel. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1982.

Approximately 300 chapbooks are added to this collection each year.