Fagundes Varela

Luís Nicolau Fagundes Varela (August 17, 1841 – February 18, 1875) was a Brazilian Romantic poet, adept of the "Ultra-Romanticism" movement. He is patron of the 11th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

This article is about the Brazilian poet. For the city, see Fagundes Varela, Rio Grande do Sul.

Fagundes Varela
Fagundes Varela.
Born	Luís Nicolau Fagundes Varela (1841-08-17)17 August 1841 Rio Claro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Died	18 February 1875(1875-02-18) (aged 33) Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Occupation	Poet
Literary movement	Romanticism
Notable works	Noturnas, Vozes da América
Spouse	Alice Guilhermina Luande, Maria Belisária de Brito Lambert
Children	Emiliano Varela

Biography

A drawing of Fagundes Varela.

Luís Nicolau Fagundes Varela was born in Rio Claro in 1841, to Emiliano Fagundes Varela and Emília de Andrade. He spent most of his childhood at the farm where he was born, later moving to innumerous places, among them the city of Catalão, Goiás, where he met Bernardo Guimarães. Returning to Rio, he lived in Angra dos Reis and Petrópolis, where he concluded his primary and secondary studies. In 1859, he goes to São Paulo and, in 1862, enters at the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo, but abandons it to dedicate himself to the literature and to the bohemianism. He published his first poetry book, Noturnas, one year before.

He married a circus artist from Sorocaba, Alice Guilhermina Luande. This provoked a scandal in his family and made his financial condition worse. With her he had a son, Emiliano, who died with 3 months old; extremely depressed, Fagundes wrote in the memory of his dead son his most well-known poem, "Cântico do Calvário" (that can be found on the book Cantos e Fantasias). His woman died in 1865 or 1866, while Varela was travelling to Recife. Returning to São Paulo, he matriculated himself once more in the Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de São Paulo in 1867, but would later abandon it once more. He then returns to his house in Rio Claro, living in there until 1870. He marries once again, with his cousin Maria Belisária de Brito Lambert, having with her two daughters and one son.

Having moved to Niterói with his father in 1870, he lives there until dying, on February 18, 1875.

Some of Varela's poems have an unusual theme for the Ultra-Romanticism: the Abolitionism. Because of that, he is considered to be one of the forerunners of the "Condorism", alongside Junqueira Freire, another Ultra-Romantic poet who spoke of the Abolitionism in some of his poems.

Works

• Noturnas (1861)
• Vozes da América (1864)
• Cantos e Fantasias (1865)
• Cantos Meridionais (1869)
• Cantos do Ermo e da Cidade (1869)
• Anchieta, ou O Evangelho na Selva (1875 — posthumous)
• Cantos Religiosos (1878 — poems compiled by Varela's friend Otaviano Hudson, with the objective of consolating Varela's wife and children)
• O Diário de Lázaro e Outras Poesias (1880 — posthumous)

External links

• Works by or about Fagundes Varela at Internet Archive
• Fagundes Varela's biography at the official site of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (in Portuguese)
• Works by Fagundes Varela at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Preceded by New creation	Brazilian Academy of Letters - Patron of the 11th chair	Succeeded by Lúcio de Mendonça (founder)