Delírios nervosos: o Rio de Janeiro de Orestes Barbosa

Abstract

Following Orestes Barbosa (1893-1966), poet, chronicler and lyricist, this work deals with issues relating to literary and artistic life in Rio de Janeiro, from Francisco Pereira Passos' "bota-abaixo" to the 1940s. Author of the books “Ban-ban-ban!” (1923) and “Samba: sua história, seus poetas, seus músicos e seus cantores” (1933), among other titles, the work and trajectory of Orestes Barbosa registers (and seek to reflect on) modern Rio in its most prominent aspects, such as urban transformations, the decline of the "modinha seresteira", as well as the origin of samba and the “civilization” of the poetry of this repertoire. Examining the chronicle of Orestes and his contemporaries makes it possible to understand the particularities and “dilemmas” of literary life in the period, between journalism and literature, between the “prostitution of talent” and academic ennoblement. A prolific chronicler, Orestes' shorthand writing fits the newspaper page, making the press his arena, where he imprints the “sensation” of everyday life in Rio. From the demolition of Morro do Castelo (1922), Orestes considers that the poet and troubadour Catulo da Paixão Cearense did not accompany, musically and poetically, the modernization of the city, recalling the demolitions of Pereira Passos (1902-1906) and the police persecution of the serenade at the dawn of the century. In the 1930s, unlike Catulo, who had turned to "sertaneja" poetry, Orestes Barbosa claimed to be the “civilizer” of samba lyrics, by introducing technical artifacts (lamp, illuminated advertisements, elevator, skyscraper, automobile and asphalt, for example) and urban “dramas”. Singer Francisco Alves, one of his main musical partners, embodies, in modern Rio, the stellar figure of the revue theater, the radio and the recording industry, tensioning the debate around artistic professionalization and the origins of samba. Journalism and music, chronicle and lyrics, in a metalinguistic exercise, finally give an understanding of the issues that affect the journalist-poet's estrus and the aspects of literary and artistic professionalization of his time.