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Bitita's Diary: The Childhood Memoirs of Carolina Maria de Jesus
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Comments/Reviews
Description: Carolina Maria de Jesus (1915-1977), nicknamed Bitita, was a destitute black Brazilian woman born in the rural interior who migrated to the industrial city of Sa=o Paulo in search of work and a better life. She was self-taught and enjoyed a degree of celebrity after the publication in 1960 of her diary under the title, Quarto de Despejo (The Garbage Room), which became the best selling book in Brazilian history. Translated into more than a dozen languages, it sold over 300,000 copies in English hardcover alone, as Child of the Dark. Bitita's Diary, drafted just prior to her death, covers her early life in the 1920s and 1930s. Originally published in French as Journal de Bitita and appearing now for the first time in the English language, Bitita's Diary is the most important document testifying to the hardships of lower-class black Brazilian women ever written. Offering extensive details about race and race relations, religion in rural Brazil (both Roman Catholicism and spiritism), life in small towns and cities of the interior, sexual intimidation, and the hardships of sharecropping, Carolina provides an insightful and moving glimpse of the Brazilian Revolution of 1930 from the vantage point of a poor person caught up in its promise.
Selected Contents:
1. Childhood
2. The Godmothers
3. The Holiday
4. Being Poor
5. A Little History
6. The Blacks
7. My Family
8. The City
9. My Son-in-Law
10. Grandfather's Death
11. School
12. The Farm
13. I Return to the City
14. The Domestic
15. Illness
16. The Revolution
17. The Rules of Hospitality
18. Culture
19. The Safe
20. The Medium
21. The Mistress
22. Being a Cook
Review(s): "An evocative portrait of a childhood of abject poverty, by one of Brazil's bestselling authors. ... An impressive book ... for [Jesus's] depictions of the crippling power of the Brazilian class structure and racial and sexual prejudice. ... Invaluable for scholars and historians interested in the real picture of rural Brazilian life in the 1920s." -- Kirkus Reviews
"A poignant description of [Jesus's] childhood in the Brazilian central interior state of Minas Gerais. It is important for providing a look at Brazil during the 1920s and 1930s through the eyes of an impoverished black child, a view rare in any country at any time. Sometimes simplistic, sometimes profound, this is a valuable volume for any Latin American research collection." -- Library Journal
"This is the third published diary of the remarkable black woman whose acclaimed Child of the Dark (1962) shocked readers with its firsthand account of urban poverty in Brazil. Bitita's Diary offers a similarly eye-opening portrayal, this time of rural poverty. Although many years have intervened between the recollections and their retelling, each chapter paints a compelling portrait of rural life in the 1920s and '30s. The theme of racial discrimination appears on nearly every page as Bitita ... describes the degrading treatment to which blacks were routinely subjected by whites and lighter-skinned mulattoes. The author balances her bitter memories with tender and humorous reminiscences. ... The book presents an often riveting account of a social reality that sheds light on Brazilian culture today. All levels." -- Choice
"Athough many years have intervened between the recollections and their retelling, each chapter paints a compelling portrait of rural life in the 1920s and '30s. The theme of racial discrimination appears on nearly every page. ... The author balances her bitter memories with tender and humorous reminiscences. ... De Jesus's language contains ... striking metaphors and a surprising vocabulary drawn from her extensive reading. The book presents an often riveting account of a social reality that sheds light on Brazilian culture today. All levels." -- Choice
"[Carolina's] intimate portrait of the ugly realities of daily life in a Sao Paulo slum ... merits attention not only for its literary worth but also for its value as a historical and sociological document detailing firsthand knowledge of rural social conditions in Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s, subject matter not previously treated with this degree of authenticity. ... Emanuelle Oliveira and Beth Joan Vinkler have faithfully reproduced both the content and flavor of Carolina's prose. Robert Levine's illuminating introduction and afterword place the work in historical context. ... Carolina's is an inspirational story and one that is uncommonly instructive in terms of race, class, and gender prejudices." -- World Literature Today
"Expertly translated and compiled, this memoir offers a meaningful testimony to the challenges lower-class black women faced in the early twentieth century." -- Journal of Women's History
    
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