Mulatto

This book is a good example of a kind of writing which became mildly popular during the second half of the 19th century in which a character's discovery that he is part black is a crucial plot element. Other examples of this can be found in Pud'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain and Desiree's Baby by Kate Chopin. So, it is a good book for anyone who is interested in race relations. The story takes place in Sao Luis (Brazil's second largest slave trading port) during the 1870s, when slavery still existed. Sao Luis was a very conservative, provencial city in which the Catholic church was openly against abolition, and the main villian in the book is a catholic priest. Apparently Azevedo, who was just 23 when he wrote the book, angered the local upper class so much with this book that he had to move out of town. Although Mulatto is considered to be the first Brazilian novel in the Naturalist or Realist tradition, there are many elements of romanticism in the plot which tends to be melodramatic and sloppy at times. Still, it serves as a fascinating historical document and at times Azevedo's prose is fantastic, forshadowing the greatness that was to come later with his masterpiece, The Slum.