Wednesday’s Wise Woman … Cecilia Meireles

Book shops are big in Rio; much like those we enjoy in the UK along the Charing Cross Road in London.  Each with an independent air and unique range; a far cry from the chains of so called bookshops we see in every town and city in UK strategically placed between Costa and John Lewis with a fine selection of ‘blockbusters’ and little else.

Sadly with my poor Portuguese I am at an immediate loss and can only absorb the atmosphere, colour, music and the cafe.  

Last year this obvious disability did have its downfall that I had little hope of improving.  So I made sure that this time I was better prepared to engage more with at least a range of some books.  

Looking at illustrators of children’s books proved beneficial and I have a stash of books by Angela Laga and Marilda Castanha to take home and research more fully.  Also as previously discussed I  found works this way by Cecilia Meireles, 

Meireles was orphaned at three years old. As a child she developed a deep love for nature. Her lyrical and highly personal poetry dwells in the complex symbolism hidden in everyday objects and events.  

She established her literary reputation early in 1919, expanding traditional forms such as the sonnet. She was awarded the Brazilian Academy of Letters Poetry Prize in 1939, her first official honour. Meireles died of cancer in Rio de Janeiro in 1964. Her principal works were Viagem (1939), Doze noturnos da holanda e o aeronauta (1952) and Solombra 1963)

Needless to say that I had no difficulty finding books,  by her and about her,  to gaze at intelligently.