Jorge Amado

jorge amado house foundation, in portuguese fundação casa de jorge amado, is a museum about the author's history

Hello, guys! What have you been doing out there? Today we are going to discuss a legendary icon of Brazilian literature: the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado. Let’s learn not only about this marvelous author, but also about his work and museum!

Who was Jorge Amado?

The Brazilian writer Jorge Amado was born on August 10, 1912, in Itabuna, Bahia. He died in Salvador, also in Bahia, on August 6, 2001, four days before his 89th birthday. Jorge Amado is one of the most widely read romantics in the world, and his works are translated in numerous languages, including Spanish, English, French and Italian.

Jorge Amado’s life was marked by remoteness due to his affiliation with communism. In 1945 the author became a congressman for the Brazilian Communist Party, which five years later became an illegal party. In order to avoid prison, he and his family had to move from one country to another. Jorge Amado returned to Brazil in 1955 and gave up on his political career, dedicating himself to literature only. He received in his entire life, approximately one hundred thousand pages of letters from people all over the world. Nowadays, these letters are stored in the Jorge Amado House Foundation.

What Did Jorge Amado Write About?

Jorge Amado wrote his works in a straightforward and everyday – yet very poetic – language. The author loved to portray themes relevant to the poor, the black, the outcast and all those excluded from society, and this made them viewed as human beings, worthy of thoughts and desires. His books were transformed into movies, series, and soap operas. Highlighting some of his greatest achievements, we have: Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, Capitães de Areia and País do Carnaval.

Jorge Amado’s Works

His works include:

Now that you know who Jorge Amado was, how about reading some of his books?

Poetry is not in verses, sometimes it is in the heart. And it is so big. To the point of not fitting the words.

Jorge Amado

Jorge Amado House Foundation

portuguese student taking a look at objects that belonged to jorge amado.
The House is almost an museum with objects from Jorge Amado.

Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado was opened in March 1987. The museum is tasked with preserving the bibliographic and artistic collections of the writer Jorge Amado. It also aims to encourage studies and research on the literature made in Bahia.

The Foundation houses a permanent exhibition about the writer’s life, made up of editions of his books – published in sixty countries on five continents. In addition, it also has an extensive collection of photographs, posters and objects related to the author and his work, a set of more than 250,000 objects.

If you come for an immersive course with us, we can totally take you to visit Jorge Amado House Foundation! Take a look at how much fun our student had while he was learning Portuguese in Brazil:

portuguese student and teacher dressing up as jorge amado's characters.
There is a dressing room where you can dress up like Jorge Amado’s characters! And you even get a degree for being now part of Jorge Amado’s world!

Now it’s your turn!

Let’s test your reading comprehension! Read the sentences below and say if they are true or false by placing V (for true) and F (for false) in parentheses. If the sentence is false, correct it!

  1. Jorge Amado é um escritor brasileiro.
  2. Ele nasceu em 1912 em Salvador.
  3. Após ter fugido do Brasil por razões políticas, ele voltou em 1945
  4. Ao longo da vida, ele recebeu mais de mil cartas dos seus admiradores
  5. Seus livros foram transformados em filmes, séries e novelas
  6. Ele não falava espanhol, inglês, francês e italiano
  7. O autor adorava retratar temas relevantes para os pobres, os negros, os excluídos
  8. As obras de Jorge Amado são conhecidas por terem uma linguagem complexa e formal.

We hope you have enjoyed knowing a little more about Brazilian literature. See you next Dica!
A big hug from Rio & Learn.

Click in the links below to see more related Dicas
Read in Simple Present
Read in Simple Past
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Answers

  1. Jorge Amado é um escritor brasileiro. ( V )
  2. Ele nasceu em 1912 em Salvador. ( F ) Ele nasceu em 1912 na Bahía.
  3. Após ter fugido do Brasil por razões políticas, ele voltou em 1945. ( F ) Após ter fugido do Brasil por razões políticas, ele voltou em 1955.
  4. Ao longo da vida, ele recebeu mais de mil cartas dos seus admiradores. ( F ) Ao longo da vida, ele recebeu mais de cem mil cartas dos seus admiradores.
  5. Seus livros foram transformados em filmes, séries e novelas. ( V )
  6. Ele não falava espanhol, inglês, francês e italiano. ( F ) Ele falava espanhol, inglês, francês e italiano.
  7. O autor adorava retratar temas relevantes para os pobres, os negros, os excluídos. ( V )
  8. As obras de Jorge Amado são conhecidas por terem uma linguagem complexa e formal. ( F ) As obras de Jorge Amado são conhecidas por terem uma linguagem simples e popular.

This post is also available in: English Português (Portuguese) Español (Spanish)

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