Lanterna de luz mórbida - Érico Veríssimo e os problemas raciais nos Estados Unidos

Abstract

As of the 1940s, through his travel narratives, interviews and lectures, Érico Veríssimo became one of the most important interpreters of the United States for Brazilians. In His Excellency, the Ambassador and O Prisioneiro [The Prisoner], Veríssimo incorporates into fiction key issues of the North American reality, such as the “black problem”. In this article, we seek to analyze Veríssimo›s approach to racial tensions in the United States, especially in his two travel books to the United States, Gato Preto em Campo de Neve [Black Cat in a Field of Snow] and A Volta do Gato Preto [The Return of the Black Cat]. The central idea is that over the years Veríssimo refines his understanding of the American society and proposes a more complex and less optimistic view of the racial strife afflicting it