Rebellion in the Backlands (Os Sertões)

Abstract

Euclides da Cunha’s (1866–1909) Os Sertões (Campanha de Canudos), first published in December of 1902, is considered a classic of Brazilian letters and is still very much alive today; witness Mario Vargas Llosa’s recent rewrite of it under the title La guerra del fin del mundo (The war of the end of the world; 1981). Translated to English (Samuel Putnam 1994) as Rebellion in the Backlands, the original title, Os Sertões, means simply the backlands, the harsh, barren landscape of the impoverished northeast of Brazil. In order to fully understand the universal appeal the book holds for the Brazilian and, indeed, Latin American imagination, it is important to understand the context surrounding its creation.