Mário de Andrade (1893–1945) was a seminal writer in the field of Brazilian “modernism” if we consider a key work that he wrote during the same year as his essay about “Tarsila”—Macunaíma: o herói sem nenhum caráter (1928) [Latin American version by Héctor Olea, Macunaíma (Barcelona: Seix Barral, 1977; Barcelona: Anagrama, 2005)]. In his rhapsody-novel, the author creates a “de-geographization” of the vast Brazilian territory—as indicated in its two (unpublished) prefaces, which can be found at the IEB-USP—through the book’s combination of “primitive” speech, terminology, flora, and fauna, all within the context of Sao Paulo in 1928. His interest in reassessing the indigenous component in Brazilian life—that is usually marginalized by the “white” or Eurocentric culture—led him to a deeper study of the ethnological and anthropological works that launched this kind of research, as far back as the nineteenth century, by scholars such as Theodor Koch Grünberg (1872–1924), a key figure in the field of Brazilian ethnology, a writer who has published countless essays in books and European journals. The German explorer Koch-Grünberg made many valuable contributions to the study of the indigenous peoples of South America, especially in his writings on the Pemón Indians in Venezuela and the many tribes in the Amazon. His major work is the five-volume book, Vom Roroima zum Orinoco. Ergebnisse einer Reise in Nordbrasilien und Venezuela in den Jahren 1911-1913 [From the Roraima to the Orinoco. Results of a Journey to Northern Brazil and Venezuela in 1911–13]. Mário de Andrade—who read German and was interested in the cultural expressions of the various Brazilian ethnic groups—had this book beside him while he was writing Macunaíma (a story about the Río Uraricoera) at the Pio Lourenço hacienda in Araracuara, in the state of Sao Paulo [see ICAA digital archive (doc. no. 1110733)]. Ever since then he was interested in “primitive” matters; an interest that, in this document, was prompted by the precise meaning of the term. In this critical text, Mário seeks to suggest how such “natural civilizations” can be translated into literature (such as his, Raúl Bopp’s, and the works of other modernists) and into art, especially the art of Tarsila do Amaral. To access two of his essays about her—see “Tarsila” [docs. no. 781921 and 781938].
