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Otto Lara Resende ou Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária

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Edgard, um simples contínuo, recebe uma proposta se casar com a filha do dono da empresa em que trabalha, a bela Maria Cecília, que alega ter sido estuprada por cinco negros. O problema é que Edgard gosta de Ritinha, vizinha pobre que sustenta a mãe louca e as três irmãs prostituindo-se. Ignorando a profissão da bela menina, ele não quer aceitar o casamento com Maria Cecília para ficar com seu amor verdadeiro.

121 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

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About the author

Nelson Rodrigues

110 books254 followers
Nelson Falcão Rodrigues (August 23, 1912 – December 21, 1980) was a Brazilian playwright, journalist and novelist. In 1943, he helped usher in a new era in Brazilian theater with his play Vestido de Noiva (The Wedding Dress), considered revolutionary for the complex exploration of its characters' psychology and its use of colloquial dialog. He went on to write many other seminal plays and today is widely regarded as Brazil's greatest playwright.

Nelson Rodrigues was born on August 23, 1912 in Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, to Mario Rodrigues, a journalist, and his wife, Maria Esther Falcão. In 1916, the family moved to Rio de Janeiro after Mario ran into trouble for criticizing a powerful local politician. In Rio, Mario rose through the ranks of one of the city's major newspaper and, in 1925, launched his own newspaper, a sensationalist daily. By fourteen Nelson was covering the police beat for his father; by fifteen he had dropped out of school; and by sixteen he was writing his own column. The family's economic situation improved steadily, allowing them to move from lower-middle class Zona Norte to what was then the exclusive neighborhood of Copacabana.

In less than two years the family's fortunes would be reversed spectacularly. In 1929, older brother Roberto, a talented graphic artist, was shot and killed at the newspaper offices by a society lady who objected to the salacious coverage of her divorce. Devastated by his son's death, Mario Rodrigues died a few months later of a stroke, and shortly after that the family newspaper was closed by military forces supporting the Revolution of 1930, which the newspaper had fiercely opposed in its editorials. The ensuing years were dark ones for the Rodrigues family, and Nelson and his brothers were forced to seek work at rival newspapers for low wages. To make matters worse, in 1934 Nelson was diagnosed with tuberculosis, a disease that plagued him, on an off, for the next ten years.

During this time Rodrigues held various jobs including comic strip editor, sports columnists and opera critic. In 1941, he wrote his first play A Mulher Sem Pecado (The Woman Without Sin), to mixed reviews. His following play, Vestido de Noiva (The Wedding Dress), was hailed as a watershed in Brazilian theater and is considered among his masterpieces. It began a fruitful collaboration with Polish émigré director Zbigniew Ziembinski, who is reported to have said on reading The Wedding Dress, "I am unaware of anything in world theater today that resembles this." In the play, set while the female chief character is hit by a car in the street and undergoes surgery, the stage is divided in three planes: one for real life action happening around the character, another for her memories, a third for her dying hallucinations. As the three planes overlap, actual reality melds with memory and delusion[1].

Rodrigues's next play, 1946 Álbum de família (Family Album)- the chronicle of a semi-mythical family living outside society and mired in incest, rape and murder - was so controversial that it was censored and only allowed to be staged 21 years later.

In all, Rodrigues wrote 17 full-length plays. They include Toda Nudez Será Castigada (All Nudity Shall Be Punished), Dorotéia, and Beijo no Asfalto (The Asphalt Kiss, or , better, The Kiss on Asphalt[2]), all considered classics of the Brazilian stage. His plays are frequently divided in three groups: Psychological, mythical and Carioca tragedies. In his Carioca tragedies Rodrigues explored the lives of Rio’s lower-middle class, a population never deemed worthy of the stage before Rodrigues. From the beginning his plays shocked audiences and attracted the attention of censors.

In spite of his success as a playwright, Rodrigues never dedicated himself exclusively to theater. In the 1950s, besides writing the hugely successful column A Vida Como Ela É (Life As It Is), he also wrote soap operas, movie scripts, a

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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
Profile Image for Murilo Silva.
127 reviews10 followers
May 17, 2020
Edgard, cuja identidade moral é amaldiçoada pela frase do escritor Otto Lara Resende “o mineiro só é solidário no câncer”, se vê num dilema e numa constante dualidade entre o certo e o errado, o amor e o dinheiro, o profano e o sagrado. Simplesmente perfeito!
Author 5 books16 followers
December 18, 2015
Absolutamente genial. Uma das maiores obras da historia desse país. Recomendo também o filme homônimo de 1981 com Ze Wilker, Lucelia Santos, Vera Fischer e um Dr. Werneck extraordinario interpretado por Carlos Kroeber.
Profile Image for Felipe Oquendo.
180 reviews25 followers
June 5, 2021
Maravilhoso. Só não leva mais estrelas pq a revelação final careceu de "energeia" e soou inverossímil.
Profile Image for malu.
104 reviews28 followers
October 9, 2020
o livro é bom, os personagens são uns lixos. mas a pior parte de tudo é saber que esse livro foi escrito na década de 60 reflete muito dos dias atuais.
Profile Image for Ricardo.
259 reviews
October 8, 2022

livro que agride a humanidade, consegue ofender TODAS as minorias. Talvez uma das peças mais polêmicas dele. "o mineiro só é solidário no câncer"= grandes frases da literatura brasileira, tem toda uma visão de mundo por trás dela.

o dia em que o jovem nerd e o azaghal homenagearam o josé wilker analisando a discussão entre o personagem dele, um ex-contínuo, e um "FILHO DA PUTA"? top momentos do youtube brasileiro. inclusive é daí que veio o meme do cara falando "MENTIRA!". assisti esse vídeo na estreia!
Profile Image for carol moura :).
29 reviews3 followers
June 12, 2024
Mais um do Nelson :)
Pra variar construção impecável com todos os temas recorrentes abordados em suas obras. Brincam que esse teatro desagradável dele tem algumas obsessões, porque os assuntos se repetem. Porém, ele sempre consegue construir uma história melhor do que a outra, com desfechos incríveis e tramas contagiantes. Pensar nas críticas e na época que foi escrita é fenomenal, tapa na cara da sociedade.
Profile Image for Rafaele.
4 reviews
January 13, 2024
Evil, I've come to tell you that she's evil, most definitely
Evil, ornery, scandalous and evil, most definitely 🎶
Profile Image for Oscar.
41 reviews
April 7, 2025
Nelson Rodrigues é a cara do Brasil. Li o livro, vi o filme e a peça e digo o seguinte: Nelson sabe retratar o Brasil como poucos. É uma peça maravilhosa.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews

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