São Bernardo

Praise

Shortlisted for the UK Society of Authors’ TA First Translation Prize

“The complexities of life in rural Brazil come sharply into focus in São Bernardo. Nearly a hundred years after its publication, the funny, ruthless narrator of this novel is as fascinating and relevant as any narrator being written today.” —Idra Novey

“I was swept up by the humor, cadence, beautiful weirdness—and above all the voice, relentless and a little nuts, of São Bernardo.” —Peter Orner

“Viswanathan, through her soulful translation, breathes new life into Ramos’s slangy, unvarnished, beguilingly funny prose.  Honorio’s voice might be gruff, but it also sings.” —Eric Puchner

“If we were to take stock of Brazilian writers from the first half of the twentieth century—from among those writers who produced the most relevant parts of their oeuvre in the first half of the twentieth century—and ask which writer has had the greatest impact and influence on the way Brazilian writers write today, I have no doubt that the name of Graciliano Ramos would make the top of the list.” —Paolo Scott, Asymptote

“This new translation of São Bernardo from the Brazilian Portuguese by Canadian writer Padma Viswanathan is as much a reiteration as it is a refashioning. . . . Viswanathan has made a precious contribution to the body of English-language literature, adding to it the vibrant voice of one [of] the most important figures of 20th-century Brazilian letters.” —Arthur Ivan Bravo, The Los Angeles Review of Books

“Ribeyro . . . is mildly Borgesian in approach, both stylish and imaginative. . . . Ramos’ metier . . . is a kind of gnarled subtlety and rueful wisdom that lends a quirky, canny element to his appealing story.” —Paddy Kehoe, RTÉ

“Graciliano Ramos’s São Bernardo is a quick read that grabbed me from the first paragraph. . . . Honório is a fascinating character, and Ramos beautifully renders him through Honório’s own elisions and incapacity to articulate.” —The Mookse and Gripes