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Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This translation first published in Penguin Books 2012
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Copyright © Grapiuna Producoes Artisticas Ltda., 2008
Translation copyright © Gregory Rabassa, 2012
Introduction copyright © Rivka Galchen, 2012
All rights reserved
Published in Portuguese under the title
A morte e a morte de Quincas Berro Dagua
by Livraria Martins Editora, Sao Paulo, 1961.
Publisher’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Amado, Jorge, 1912–2001.
[Morte e a morte de Quincas Berro Dágua. English]
The double death of Quincas Water-Bray / Jorge Amado ; translated from the Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa ; introduction by Rivka Galchen.
p. cm.—(Penguin classics)
ISBN: 978-1-101-60354-3
I. Rabassa, Gregory. II. Title.
PQ9697.A647M613 2012
869.3’41—dc23 2012022838
Printed in the United States of America
Set in Sabon
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
Introduction
Though a best seller in Brazil, and translated into more languages than most Americans know exist, the twentieth-century Brazilian writer Jorge Amado (1912–2001) is little known in this country, even to the bookish, for whom the writing of Brazil is represented either by the two genius Europhilic stars, Machado de Assis and Clarice Lispector—who, to be fair in the distribution of unfairness, are also relatively unknown in this country—or by the self-help-esque novelist/guru/lyricist Paulo Coelho, who is well known most everywhere, and who is not infrequently photographed with halo lighting effects, or barefoot in desert sand. So an American reader, educated in only these two extreme types, tends to feel at a loss even in building a misleading stereotype from which to begin misimagining what type of writer Amado might be. But maybe the Hydratic stereotype is a helpful beginning. Amado’s work is neither precisely for the mandarin nor precisely for the masses. Amado held the prestigious chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters for forty years,
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3
(a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell,
Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
(a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank,
Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
This translation first published in Penguin Books 2012
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Copyright © Grapiuna Producoes Artisticas Ltda., 2008
Translation copyright © Gregory Rabassa, 2012
Introduction copyright © Rivka Galchen, 2012
All rights reserved
Published in Portuguese under the title
A morte e a morte de Quincas Berro Dagua
by Livraria Martins Editora, Sao Paulo, 1961.
Publisher’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA
Amado, Jorge, 1912–2001.
[Morte e a morte de Quincas Berro Dágua. English]
The double death of Quincas Water-Bray / Jorge Amado ; translated from the Portuguese by Gregory Rabassa ; introduction by Rivka Galchen.
p. cm.—(Penguin classics)
ISBN: 978-1-101-60354-3
I. Rabassa, Gregory. II. Title.
PQ9697.A647M613 2012
869.3’41—dc23 2012022838
Printed in the United States of America
Set in Sabon
Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
ALWAYS LEARNING
PEARSON
Introduction
Though a best seller in Brazil, and translated into more languages than most Americans know exist, the twentieth-century Brazilian writer Jorge Amado (1912–2001) is little known in this country, even to the bookish, for whom the writing of Brazil is represented either by the two genius Europhilic stars, Machado de Assis and Clarice Lispector—who, to be fair in the distribution of unfairness, are also relatively unknown in this country—or by the self-help-esque novelist/guru/lyricist Paulo Coelho, who is well known most everywhere, and who is not infrequently photographed with halo lighting effects, or barefoot in desert sand. So an American reader, educated in only these two extreme types, tends to feel at a loss even in building a misleading stereotype from which to begin misimagining what type of writer Amado might be. But maybe the Hydratic stereotype is a helpful beginning. Amado’s work is neither precisely for the mandarin nor precisely for the masses. Amado held the prestigious chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters for forty years,
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