Unified by the Portuguese language, the literature of Brazil represents the cultural synthesis of three distinct influences: indigenous peoples, European émigrés, and Africans brought to the New World as slaves. This program reflects on those influences as it examines the first five centuries of recorded Brazilian writing. With an overview of ancient folklore and verse, the program highlights connections between Brazilian and Baroque traditions; it also studies the importance of Neoclassicism and Romanticism, Realism and Naturalism, and Parnassianism and Symbolism. Works by Cláudio Manuel da Costa, Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Alberto de Oliveira, Raimundo Correia, Olavo Bilac, Euclides da Cunha, and others are featured. An FFH&S/Tranquilo Production. (48 minutes)