Manuel Bandeira life and work

Manuel Bandeira.
Souce: Arquivo Nacional.

Short biography

Manuel Carneiro de Souza Bandeira Filho (Born in 1886, Recife, Pernambuco - Died in 1968, Rio de Janeiro) was a poet, journalist, translator, and teacher.

He attended primary school in Recife, then moved with his family to Rio de Janeiro at the age of 10, where he finished secondary school.

In 1903, Manuel enrolled in architecture and arts in different educational institutions in São Paulo. However, he was forced to cease his studies to treat tuberculosis and spent the next 10 years in clinics in Brazil and later in Clavadel, Switzerland.

After returning to Rio de Janeiro, Manuel published his debut book in 1917, a 200-copy edition paid for by the author. Two years later, he published his second book. In 1920, he met the leading writers of the Brazilian modernist movement, with whom he would become associated.

He worked in journalism as a literature and music critic. From 1925 to 1964, he contributed to newspapers, magazines, and radio, writing articles and crônicas (a Brazilian genre of short fiction-essays).

In 1927, Manuel travelled to Belém in the north of Brazil, with stopovers in Salvador, Recife, Paraíba, Natal, Fortaleza, and São Luís do Maranhão. From 1928 to 1929, he served as an inspector of preparatory examination boards in Recife. In 1935, he was appointed inspector of education in Rio and three years later, became a literature teacher at the secondary school where he had studied.

From 1943 on, he taught Hispano-American Literatures at the National Faculty of Philosophy, retiring in 1956. Manuel was elected a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1940.

List of poetry books

A cinza das horas (1917), Carnaval (1919), Ritmo dissoluto (1924), Libertinagem (1930), Estrela da Manhã (1936), Poesias escolhidas (1937), Lira dos cinquent’anos (1940), Poesias completas (1948), Belo belo (1948), Mafuá do malungo (1948), Poesias completas (1954), Opus 10 (1952), 50 Poemas escolhidos pelo autor (1955), Obras poéticas (1956), Estrela da tarde (1963), Estrela da vida inteira (1966).

Original from: Academia Brasileira de Letras and Enciclopédia Itaúcultural
Translated and edited by: crroma