Menotti del Picchia (São Paulo SP 1892 - Idem 1988)
Menotti Del Picchia was a poet, short story writer, novelist, chronicler, essayist, journalist, author of stories children and politicians. Son of journalist Luiz Del Picchia and Corina del Corso, he began his studies in Campinas (SP), concluding them at the São José Diocesan Gymnasium, in Pouso Alegre (MG). He returned to the capital of São Paulo, where he joined the Faculty of Law of Largo São Francisco. He debuted in literature in 1913 with the book Poemas do Vício e da Virtue. The following year, he took up residence in Itapira (SP), where he worked as a lawyer and directed the newspapers Diário de Itapira and O Grito!.
In 1917, he published the poems Moisés and Juca Mulato, the latter being considered his masterpiece. In 1919, he worked as editor-in-chief of the Tribuna de Santos, where he remained for a year. Back in the capital of São Paulo, he took over the direction of the newspaper A Gazeta and started collaboration with Correio Paulistano, in which, under the pseudonym Hélios, he made one of the most vigorous defenses of the modernist movement. He participated in the Modern Art Week, in 1922, coordinating the second night of the event.
In the following years, he joined the green-yellow and anta groups, alongside the poet Cassiano Ricardo (1895–1974) and the writer Plínio Salgado (1895–1975), political-literary associations of a nationalist nature that opposed the Pau-Brasil movement by Oswald de Andrade (1890–1954). In 1933, at the invitation of Assis Chateaubriand (1892–1968), he took over the direction of the newspaper Diário da Noite. In 1936, he joined the group A Bandeira, founded by Cassiano Ricardo, also of nationalist orientation, responsible for the edition of the magazine Anhanguera.
Two years later, he was appointed by Governor Ademar de Barros. (1901–1969) for the direction of the Publicity and Propaganda Service of the State of São Paulo, later renamed the Press and Propaganda Department (DIP). In 1942, he directed the newspaper A Noite and, the following year, he took office in the chair nº 28 of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL). Between 1926 and 1962, he served as a state and federal deputy. In 1987, Casa Menotti del Picchia was inaugurated in the city of Itapira, an institution dedicated to the preservation of its collection. Brazilian modernism is consensually recognized: in addition to having been responsible for the presentation of aesthetic assumptions during the Modern Art Week, the author militated in favor of the movement in his daily column at Correio Paulistano, thus becoming one of his main chroniclers.
Although he worked on the front lines of the movement and the organization of the 1922 Modern Art Week, Menotti del Picchia developed a work still influenced by the aesthetic currents with which modernism sought to break. In the different genres to which he dedicated himself, there is a mismatch between his literary practice and the revolt of form and content he himself propagated. Precious images, still moving by romantic inspiration, as the excerpt from "Cantiga do Cobbler" reveals: "unfortunate and counterfeit / I in an eagerness I struggle:/ from the chest/and I make a shoe?".
In 1917, an important aspect in the author's work is inaugurated: that of dramatic poems, in his case directed more at reading than on staging. This year Moses are published, whose biblical inspiration will also give rise to Jesus (1958), and Juca Mulato, with which he became notable. This book anticipates, despite persistence in romantic idealization, one of the central themes of modernism: the search for essentially national data, revealed in the figure of the caboclo whose impossible passion for the daughter of the boss is portrayed in picturesque and rhythmic verses, with fluency close to the orality.
The effective approach to modernist aesthetics begins with a stone shower (1925), which demystifies the romantic vision expressed in the previous books, and is consolidated in the Republic of the United States of Brazil (1928), with free verses in of national affairs. Picchia's affinity with authors such as Mário de Andrade (1893 - 1945) and Antonio de Alcântara Machado (1901 - 1935) are noted in poems such as "Torre de Babel", in which he sings the different nationalities Formators from the city of São Paulo: "[?] Jovial Italians,/ Hungarian with leopard eyes,/ Caboclos de Tietê dragging the redneck[?]".
With regard to the work in prose, the author dedicated himself The narratives of adventure and science fiction - these writings of his own were considered minor works: on the 3000 republic (1930), he claimed to be a "recreational area that does not even confine with the plan of art". The author's project of reaching uncultured readers - perhaps for the great popular success of Juca Mulato - leads Alfredo Bosi to define the whole of this production as "singular in the modernist context, in the sense of a descent of tone (a malicious person would say: level) that allowed him approach the average reader and skip through mass culture".
Chronology
1892 - Menotti del Picchia is born on March 20, in the city of São Paulo
1897 - moves With his family for the city of Itapira, São Paulo
1900 - Starts primary school at Grupo Escolar Dr. Júlio de Mesquita
1903 - In a ceremony held at Praça Central de Itapira, he meets the poet Coelho Neto (1864 - 1934)
1904 - Moves, with his brother José del Picchia, to Campinas, São Paulo, and enters the gymnasium cult. Publishes the chronicle in the newspaper Cidade de Itapira
1906 - transfers to Pouso Alegre, Minas Gerais, and enrolls in the São José Diocesan Gymnasium, where he meets the poet Guilherme de Almeida (1890 - 1969) and the writer Plínio Salgado (1895 - 1975). He writes the first poems, which are subsequently published in the book Poemas do Vício e da Virtue, from 1913
1907 - publishes his first poems in the literary sheet O Estudos, edited at the College, and also the Tale of the Indigenous, in the city of Itapira
1908 - founds, with other external students of the São José Gymnasium, the newspaper O Mandu
1909 - in São Paulo, works at the Secretariat of the Monastery of Luz and enrolls at the Faculty of Law of Largo São Francisco, graduating from 1913
1910 - Meets the poet Olavo Bilac (1865 - 1918), also a college student
1912 - marries Francisca Avelina da Cunha Salles
1914 - Moves to Itapira, works as a lawyer and directs the newspaper Cidade de Itapira, a situationist periodical, in tune with the ideas of the Paulista Republican Party - PRP
1915 - In Itapira, founded, with Antônio Carlos Chagas, the periodical The Scream!, contrary to the ideas of PRP
1916 - The Scream! It is renamed Tribuna Itapirense
1917 - Publishes the poem Juca Mulato
1918 - Moves to the city of Santos, São Paulo, where he assumes the position of editor-in-chief of the newspaper A Tribuna de Santos, He becomes friends with journalists and poets such as Afonso Schmidt (1890 - 1964), Ribeiro Couto (1898 - 1963), Galeão Coutinho (1897 - 1951), Martim Francisco (1853 - 1927) and Vicente de Carvalho (1866 - 1924)
1919 - Meet the writers Oswald de Andrade (1890 - 1954) and Mário de Andrade (1893 - 1945) and The sculptor Victor Brecheret (1894 - 1955), who are part of the modernist movement
1920 - moves to the city of São Paulo, and assumes the editorial direction of the newspaper A Gazeta, recently acquired by journalist Cásper Libero (1889 - 1943). He works at the newspaper Correio Paulistano, and, through his chronicles signed with the pseudonyms Hélios and Aristophanes, disseminates the ideas of the modernist group. Inauguration of the film company Independência Filme, and alongside Monteiro Lobato (1882 - 1948) and Oswald de Andrade, founds the magazine Papel e Tint
1921 - with Oswald, Salgado, Mário and Cândido Mota Filho (1897 - 1977), the modernist movement in São Paulo begins, at the event that became known as the Trianon Manifesto. They belong to the group, in addition to those mentioned, Sérgio Milliet (1898 - 1966), Luis Aranha (1901 - 1987), Brecheret, Di Cavalcanti (1897 - 1976), among others. Collaborates in the Jornal do Commercio
1922 - is part of the group responsible for organizing the Week of Modern Art held at the Municipal Theater of São Paulo
1923 - is part of the green-yellow and ANTA groups, in the company of the writers Cassiano Ricardo (1985 - 1974), Salgado, Motta Filho and Raul Bopp (1898 - 1984). With Cassiano founded the publisher Hélios
1924 - he is appointed head of the Public Ministry, and later president of the Diplomacy Commission of the Federal Chamber. He is tasked with recruiting troops in the interior of the state
1926 - he is elected state deputy
1927 - he publishes with Salgado and Cassiano the collection of essays O Curupira and the Carão
1928 - Re-elected Deputy State
1929 - With Salgado and Ricardo, he publishes in the Correio Paulistano the Manifesto of Green-Amarelismo
1930 - participates in the 1930 Revolution defending the reformist purposes of the President of the State of São Paulo, Júlio Prestes (1882 - 1946), and, at the federal level, the continuity of the Washington Luís government (1869 - 1957). The victorious revolutionaries invade the headquarters of Correio Paulistano
1932 - assumes the position of secretary of the governor Pedro de Toledo (1860 - 1935) and participates in the constitutionalist revolution
1933 - invited by Assis Chateaubriand (1892 - 1968), starts directing the Diário da Noite. Takes the direction of the magazine A Cigarra
1935 - alongside Cassiano Ricardo, founds the magazine São Paulo. His sacred poem, Jesus, is staged at the Municipal Theater of São Paulo
1936 - with the writers Cassiano Ricardo, Mário de Andrade, Alcântara Machado (1901 - 1934), Plínio Barreto (1882 - 1958), Rubens do Amaral, Valdomiro Silveira (1873 - 1941), Afonso de Taunay (1876 - 1958), Reynaldo Silveira, Vicente Rao (1892 - 1978), Paulo Prado, Guilherme de Almeida, Paulo Setubal (1893 - 1937), Ellis Júnior (1896 - 1974), Motta Filho and Monteiro Lobato, is part of the cultural group A Bandeira. To publicize his ideas throughout Brazil, the group founded the Anhangüera newspaper, published from June 1937
1938 - in the government of Ademar de Barros (1901 - 1969), appointed intervener of the State by Getúlio Vargas (1882 - 1954), Del Picchia assumes the position of director of the Publicity and Propaganda Service of the State of São Paulo, renamed Department and Press and Propaganda - DIP. The cartoonist Belmonte (1897 - 1947) and the poet Cassiano Ricardo
1939 - collaborates in the magazine Planalto, founded by Cassiano Ricardo, also hold positions in the government. The night
1943 - Takes chair number 28 at the Academia Brasileira de Letras - ABL
1945 - directs the São Paulo section of the Brazilian Labor Party - PTB
1947 - participates in the Congress of Writers and Booksellers of Latin America, held in Buenos Aires
1948 - Minister Conference at Clube da Poesia, chaired by Cassiano Ricardo
1950 - is elected federal deputy
1954 - is re-elected federal deputy
1955 - The play Fronteira is staged in Rio de Janeiro
1956-1958 - The publisher Martins Fontes publishes its complete work, in 13 volumes
1959 - a special edition of the book Juca Mulato is published, illustrated by the painter Candido Portinari (1903 - 1962)
1960 - Elected deputy Coutinho Cavalcanti (1906 - 1960), assumes the position of Federal Deputy
1962 - ends his political career
1967 - is awarded the title of Citizen Emeritus of São Paulo
1969 - Receives the Juca Pato Award and the title of Intellectual of the Year
1979 - wins the Brasília Award for the set of his work
1982 - He is honored with the title of Prince of Brazilian Poets and with the Francisco Matarazzo Sobrinho Trophy
1984 - Receives the Moinho Santista Prize for Literature in the area of Poetry
1987 - The Casa Menotti Dela is inaugurated in Itapira. Picchia
1988 - Dies on August 23, in the city of São Paulo
Published works - First editions
poetry
Poems of Addiction and Virtue - 1913
Moisés - 1917
Juca Mulato - 1917
Masks - 1920
The anguish of D. João - 1922
Stone Rain - 1925
The Love of Dulcinea - 1926
Republic of the United States of Brazil - 1928
The Faceless God - 1968
Evening - 1971
tale
All naked - s.d.
The woman who sinned - 1922
The crime of that night - 1924
The Other Leg of Saci - 1926
Romance
Flama and Clay - 1920 (Posted with the title The Tragedy of Zilda from 4th edition)
Laís - 1921
Man and Death - 1922
Gold Tooth - 1923
The Republic 3000 - 1930 (published with the title The Daughter of the Inca in 1949)
The Storm - 1932
Kalum, The Mystery of the Sertão - 1936
Kummmumká - 1938
Salomé - 1940
The Referee - 1958
chronicle
Moloch's Bread - 1921
Cleopatra's nose - 1923
memory
The Long Trip - 1st Stage - 1970
The Long Journey - 2nd Stage - 1972
Children and Juvenil
Travels by João Peralta and Pé de Moleque - S.D.
In the Country of Ants: New Adventures of João Peralta and Pé de Moleque - S.D.
Theatre
The Frontier of the Meat - S.D.
The Coward - S.D.
The Incubo - s.d.
Supreme Conquest - 1921
Jesus, Sacred Tragedy - 1958
Essay
for divorce - s.d.
Bandeirante - s.d.
Bandeira - s.d.
The Brazilian Literary Moment - s.d.
The Júlio Prestes government and primary education - s.d.
under the sign of Polymnia - s.d.
Essay on the expansion of thought - s.d.
National Solutions - 1935
Modern Art - 1922
Por Amor do Brasil - 1927
The São Paulo Revolution through the testimony of the Governor's Office - 1932
Awakening of São Paulo: Episodes of 16th and XXth century at Terra Bandeirante - 1933
Source: Itaú Cultural
