An exhibition celebrating the famous livros do cordel, the printed folk literature of northeastern Brazil (Pictured above, Jose Soares Com Jose Costa Leita, from the collection of Stefan Bartkowiak.)

In the SFCB Gallery
May 9 - Aug 1, 2008     

Works from the exhibition

Curator's Statement

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< Previous | Catalogue | Next > José Severino Costa, Amor de Mãe e o Poder de Jesus (Motherly Love and the Power of Jesus) From the collection of Alastair Johnston. In the form of a Protestant sermon about the wheel of existence. Mary loved and suffered for Jesus, the way all women suffer for their children, but sometimes the kids are ungrateful. They will only understand when they, too, become mothers. In the poem, a girl of 13 runs away from home to make her own life, but her own children grow up to reject her. "Jesus’ love is like a mother’s love, or the love of a dog for her puppies, or a hen for her chickens," says the author. (7:1) "In the world there are a lot of depraved women living without love; in the midst of the whole wide world they want to know nothing of their own family." The last stanza has an acrostic of the author’s name, printed sideways to emphasize the word play. (The use of the acrostic signature establishes authorship, though an ingenious thief might revise the last verse to contain a new acrostic. Also, poets sometimes sell their rights to the work outright to a publisher and the publisher can replace their name with his own if he likes.)

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