Bankruptcy - A Novel by Júlia Lopes de Almeida: Edited by Ana Cláudia Suriani Da Silva, Translated by Cintia Kozonoi Vezzani and Jason Rhys Parry

The first novel-length translation of Júlia Lopes de Almeida’s writing into English.

Set in the early years of Brazil’s Old Republic after the abolition of slavery, Júlia Lopes de Almeida’s The Bankruptcy depicts the rise and fall of a wealthy coffee exporter against a kaleidoscopic background of glamour, poverty, seduction, and financial speculation. The novel introduces readers to a turbulent period in Brazilian history seething with new ideas about democracy, women’s emancipation, and the role of religion in society. Originally published in 1901, its prescient critiques of financial capitalism and the patriarchal family remain relevant today.

In her lifetime, Júlia Lopes de Almeida was compared to Machado de Assis, the most important Brazilian writer of the nineteenth century. She was also considered for the inaugural list of members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters but was excluded because of her gender. In the decades after her death, her work was largely forgotten. This publication, a winner of the English PEN award, includes an introduction to the novel and a translators’ preface and accompanies a general rediscovery of her extraordinary body of work in Brazil.

Júlia Lopes de Almeida (1862-1934) was born in Rio de Janeiro. A prolific author of novels, plays, newspaper columns, poems, and books for children, she is now recognized as a distinct literary voice and pioneering female writer. Ana Cláudia Suriani da Silva is associate professor in Brazilian studies, UCL. Cintia Kozonoi Vezzani is a postdoctoral fellow at Tokyo College. Jason Rhys Parry is a senior content researcher and developer at Sapienship.