Cordel literature (from the Portuguese term, ''literatura de cordel'', literally “string literature”, ) are popular and inexpensively printed booklets or

pamphlets A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a ...

containing folk

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

poems Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

and

songs A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

. They are produced and sold in street markets and by street vendors in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, mainly in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

. They are so named because they are hung from strings to display them to potential customers, and the word for rope in Portuguese is ''corda'', from which the term ''cordel'' is derived.

History

Cordel literature forms one of the least altered continuations of the Western traditions of popular literature, such as

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

s, and popular prints. Its history dates back to the 16th century, when the printing of oral reports became popularized in the Renaissance. This genre derives from the '' papel volante'' tradition of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

, a literary genre also found in Spain during the 18th and 19th centuries, and offered readers a wide array of topics, from basic instruction to political tracts. The name comes from the way the leaflets were traditionally displayed for sale, hung on ropes, twine or string in Portugal. It remains a popular literary form in Brazil. In the Northeastern region of Brazil, the name was adopted, but the leaflet may or may not be displayed on string. Some poems are illustrated with

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas tha ...

s, also used on the covers. The most common stanzas are those of ten, eight or six verses. The authors, or ''cordelistas'', recite these verses in a melodious and cadenced way, accompanied by a musical instrument named

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

. Readings or declamations of these verses are performed to win over potential buyers. In 1988, the Academia Brasileira de Literatura de Cordel (ABLC) razilian Academy of Cordel Literaturewas founded in Rio de Janeiro in order to bring together the exponents of this Brazilian literary genre. According to the poet

Carlos Drummond de Andrade Carlos Drummond de Andrade () (October 31, 1902 – August 17, 1987) was a Brazilian poet and writer, considered by some as the greatest Brazilian poet of all time. He has become something of a national cultural symbol in Brazil, where his wi ...

it is one of the purest manifestations of the inventive spirit, the sense of humor and the critical capacity of Brazilians from the interior and of the humblest backgrounds.

Form

Usually produced in black and white, in

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

format, ''cordel'' chapbooks are usually illustrated with

s. Often both the author or poet's and the woodcut artist's names will appear in the credits of the book. Two expressive woodcutters are Adir Botelho and José Francisco Borges, whose woodcuts have been exhibited in the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the '' Venus de Milo''. A central ...

and the Smithsonian. The cordel literature found its zenith in the decades of 1920s and 1930s, with the popular legend created by the cangaceiros of

Lampião "Captain" Virgulino Ferreira da Silva (), better known as Lampião (older spelling: ''Lampeão'', , meaning "lantern" or "oil lamp"), was probably the twentieth century's most successful traditional bandit leader. The banditry endemic to the Brazi ...

, a band of outlaws and bandolier bandits who terrorized the region for almost 20 years. The

War of Canudos The War of Canudos (, , 1895–1898) was a conflict between the First Brazilian Republic and the residents of Canudos in the northeastern state of Bahia. It was waged in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery in Brazil (1888) and the overt ...

, a military conflict in the state of

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-larges ...

, 1896–1897, has been also a frequent theme of cordel literature, due to its epic dimensions and importance for the history of the Northeast backlands. Cordel literature can still be found in the Northeastern Brazilian states, most notably in

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the ...

Paraíba Paraíba ( Tupi: ''pa'ra a'íba''; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba ...

and

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

Authors

Some of the main authors from the past are Leandro Gomes de Barros (1865–1918) and João Martins de Athayde (1880–1959). Today some Cordel Literature authors as Marcelo Soares, Davi Teixeira, Meca Moreco and Altair Leal are keeping this popular expression alive. Those writers and other authors are helping to show the importance of popular art to Brazil and to the world . There are a lot of not-well-known cordel authors in Brazil, although there are still chapbooks that tell widely known old tales, even reinvented, in a new context. See as an example a masterpiece of the past decades: ''A Chegada de Lampião no Inferno'' (The Arrival of Lampião in Hell) by José Pacheco, as well as today's ''A Chegada de Lula no Inferno'' (The Arrival of Lula in Hell); besides "classics," living folk poetry say to us much both about ''cordel'' and its strong roots in the everyday life of the people and its place in Brazilian culture as a whole.

References

External links

Literatura de Cordel: Web Resources (Rio de Janeiro Office, Library of Congress)

* ttp://www.ablc.com.br/ Academia Brasileira de Literatura de Cordel
Literatura de Cordel do Brasil
Book arts Brazilian literature Printmaking {{book-art-stub

History

Form

Authors

See also

References

External links