Epopeias sertanejas – Moisés Santos Reis Amaral’s (UFS) review of the book “Lampião em Paulo Afonso”, by João de Souza Lima
Abstract: Lampião em Paulo Afonso, by João de Souza Lima, is a historical investigation into Lampião’s incursions into Paulo Afonso, Bahia. Despite the inclusion of oral testimonies, the work is criticized for its fragmented structure and the insertion of themes outside the main focus, which compromises the clarity of the objective of narrating Lampião’s wanderings. Nevertheless, the book is regarded as a valuable source of oral accounts that illuminate life in the backlands during the era of the cangaço.
Keywords: Lampião, Paulo Afonso-BA, and Cangaço.
Lampião em Paulo Afonso is a work by João de Souza Lima, released in 2007 by Editora Fonte Viva. The work is a historical research project that narrates the incursions of Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, known as Lampião, and his band of cangaceiros into the region that today comprises the municipality of Paulo Afonso, in Bahia. The book in question covers the secondary settlements where the supreme leader of the cangaço cultivated friendships, engaged in sexual relations, killed, extorted, and met the woman who would become his companion until the end of their lives, Maria Gomes de Oliveira, known as Maria Bonita.
João de Souza Lima, a researcher of the cangaço based in Paulo Afonso, Bahia since 1970, has built a career as a freelance writer, having published more than twenty books. The book under review is the result of years of field research and hundreds of interviews with former coiteiros, soldiers, victims of Lampião and his band, as well as various relatives of the region’s sertanejos and sertanejas who, for various reasons, decided to accompany the cangaceiros’ bands. The work contains 38 chapters spread over 180 pages and offers a vast array of iconography and a light, simple language.
Some of the chapters in this work are analyzed together because they are small fragments of the body of the text that have the same objective. This is the case with chapters 3 and 6, which aim to describe the gangs’ modus operandi in the places where they choose their alcoves, in quick passages or landings for longer periods. This section invites the reader to consider the potential for a “coitus” and its influence on Lampião’s resilience in the cangaço.
In the first chapter, the author outlines the motivations behind his work. He reports that his interest in the cangaço theme emerged in 2000, when he participated in a study group and observed numerous cangaceiro narratives among the Paulafonsinos.
The second chapter is notable for its divergence from the preceding sections. Here, the author discusses a renowned natural monument, the Paulo Afonso waterfall, which has little to do with the cangaço phenomenon. The inclusion of this theme appears to be an attempt to increase the book’s length by including a greater number of pages.
The fourth chapter, comprising a single page, recounts the arrival of Lampião in Bahia following the unsuccessful attack on the city of Mossoró in Rio Grande do Norte. This fragment could have been integrated into another section of the book.
The chapters that can be reviewed together are chapters 5, 7-9, 10-11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21-23, 25, 27-29, 31-34, and 36-37. The collection of isolated events, which describe deaths, betrayals, moments of distraction, love, violence, and passages from the wandering life on the fringes of the law of these men and women, serves to illustrate the way of life of the sertanejo in the times of the cangaço and the relationship of the cangaceiros with the society of the time (colonels and pauper peasants). The narrative is presented in a straightforward manner, yet the facts convey an air of mysticism, giving the impression of quasi-fiction. This is due to the continuous narrative style, which rarely includes addenda or similar interruptions.
In the eighth chapter, the author provides a brief biography of a cangaceira from the Paulo Afonso region. She had fled the cangaço and secretly settled in Minas Gerais, a fact that was discovered by the author. The inclusion of the brief history of Durvalina Gomes de Sá, the former cangaceira Durvinha, detracts from the central objective of the work, which is to narrate Lampião’s wanderings in the Paulo Afonso region.
Chapter 12 reveals a different side to the members of a group of cangaceiros. In recounting the story of Lampião and Maria Bonita’s first child, the author elucidates the manner in which the birth of a child was approached within the context of cangaço, encompassing the search for a secure coitus, the tension of labor, and related matters. In this instance, the child was born stillborn, thereby exposing the harsh realities of the women’s lives and the sentiments surrounding this tragic occurrence.
In Chapter 14, the book presents the religious characteristics of cangaceiros, paisanos, and the military. It becomes evident that the cangaceiros observed strict religious precepts and engaged in occasional prayers during specific periods of the day. Furthermore, they adhered to a code of sexual abstinence at specific times.
Lampião and gang in prayer | Image: Benjamin Abrahão/Lampião
Chapters 16, 18, 24, and 26 reveal the cangaceiros’ predilection for specific locales. These locales were selected for their geographical features, climate, and the presence of friendly people or even the absence of human beings, contingent on the circumstances. In these accounts, the author endeavors to demonstrate to the reader Lampião’s perspicacity as a great strategist.
As previously stated, the organization of the book into short chapters is a problematic point in the work, both in terms of style and erudition. This approach can give the impression that the interpretation lacks sources and methodological rigor. Additionally, there are passages where the author conveys a Manichean view of the facts. Furthermore, there is a lack of dialogue between the methodology of oral history and the use of different types of sources that could enrich the results of the investigation. The inclusion of topics unrelated to the original problem is also a negative aspect of this book, as it confuses the reader.
On the other hand, the book’s positive aspects should be noted. One of these is the recording of oral testimonies that would otherwise be lost with the passage of generations. In this text, the author has collected stories told by ordinary sertanejos, exploring the impact of the cangaço on the lives of those involved. Many of these accounts have already been passed down by the children of those who lived through the era.
Lampião em Paulo Afonso is a work that sets out to address Lampião’s wanderings and actions in the vicinity of the aforementioned city. As previously noted, the author’s approach to generating a coherent narrative is flawed at multiple points in the book. By addressing a variety of themes, the author deviates from the central theme, which ultimately hinders the book’s ability to achieve its intended purpose. Despite these shortcomings, the work provides a fluid reading of facts that could have been overlooked by historiography. It fulfills the principle of a work based on the orality of simple people, inhabitants—for the most part—of the rural area of a town in the interior of Bahia.
Summary of Lampião em Paulo Afonso
- O que me levou a escrever esse livro
- A Cachoeira de Paulo Afonso
- A Furna dos Morcegos
- A chegada
- O Coronel Petro
- Glória Amedtontada
- Ângelo Roque Salva Pedro Piroca
- A cangaceira Durvalina (Durvinha)
- Combate na Aroeira
- Estratégia de Matuto
- Cavaleiros dourados invadem o Sítio do Tará
- O primeiro filho
- O poder de fogo do fuzil sucumbe depois de uma morte
- Oração
- João Garrafinha e Lino de Zezé
- Várzea, um dos coitos preferidos
- A vida por um cavalo
- Como eram forjados os cangaceiros
- Os cangaceiros Otília, Suspeito e a Cozinheira Firmina
- Gigante, um vira-latas de respeito
- Morte de Sabiá
- Petu, um sanfoneiro arretado
- Ezequiel tomba no campo de batalha
- Juá
- Morte do cangaceiro Açúcar
- Brejo do Burgo
- Catarina de Nevoeiro
- Muita sede pra pouco copo
- Somente a verdade
- As duas faces de Pedro Rimualdo, o cangaceiro Alecrim e o Soldado 914
- O assassinato do soldado rastejador, Cornélio
- Alguns goles de valentia
- O misterioso sumiço de Manoel Tubiba
- Lampião: o Rei do Cangaço
- Interrogatório de Relâmpago
- Interrogatório de Joao de Lúcio
- Pessoas entrevistadas
Reviewer
Moisés Santos Reis Amaral holds a master’s degree from the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS), a degree in History from Faculdade AGES, and works as a History teacher in the Municipality of Fátima/BA (PMF/BA). Among other works, he has published the Manual didático do professor de História: História local e aprendizagem significativa (2019). ID LATTES: 3969720442573966; https://buscatextual.cnpq.br/buscatextual/busca.do; ID ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5676-8762; E-mail: moisessantosra@gmail.com.
To cite this review
LIMA, João de Souza. Lampião em Paulo Afonso. Paulo Afonso: Fonte Viva, 2023. 182p. Review by: AMARAL, Moisés Santos Reis. Epopeias sertanejas. Crítica Historiográfica. Natal, v.4, n.16, Mar/Apr, 2023. Available at <Epopeias sertanejas – Moisés Santos Reis Amaral’s (UFS) review of the book “Lampião em Paulo Afonso”, by João de Souza Lima – Crítica Historiografica (criticahistoriografica.com.br)>.
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