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Orpheus And The Racialized Body In Brazilian Film And Literature Of The Twentieth Century, Patrice Rankine

Classical Studies Faculty Publications

This paper argues for the significance of Orpheus as a racialized body in Brazil. A consistent feature of Orpheus in Brazil throughout the twentieth century is his blackness. This is the case in each of the three variations of the Orpheus myth in twentieth - century Brazilian drama and literature: Vinicius de Moraes' play, Orfeu da Conceição (Orpheus of Conception), Marcel Camus' Black Orpheus, and Carlos Diegues's Orfeu. Thus Brazilian Orpheus fit into a context not only of twentieth - century classical reception in Brazil and throughout the modern world, but also in discussions of …