Bahia Blues

This is my first journal entry for my trip to Brazil, based off of my reading of Yasmina Traboulsi's "Bahia Blues."

I’m going to start off this entry with a passage I wrote from my “final reflection” to the Brazilian Literature class I took this past semester: “I did feel a sense of gloom overriding a lot of the chosen material, and I was left with a somewhat dismal emotion at the end of each story. However, as I learned more and more about where these writers were coming from (culturally), I began to see and feel this "light-heartedness" that Heloisa spoke of, an essence that embodied a hope, a desire, a light at the end of the tunnel, per se.” I think this reflection sums up the same feeling I had after reading Yasmina Traboulsi’s “Bahia Blues.” Based on the title, and because of the previous works I studied including Assis, Rosa and Lispector, I had a sense that this novel would include aspects of the Brazilian “favela” such as poverty, crime, and misfortune.

The structure of the book was new to me and it took a little while to get used to the “choppy” movement of paragraphs. I often found myself going back to a previous page to find the paragraph that coincided with the current one I was reading. I did find it a little agitating, but by the end I appreciated the effect it had on me as a reader. It was real; much of our lives happen simultaneously and Traboulsi was able to create that effect successfully by using this choppy format. Traboulsi’s language is simple and direct, so I had no trouble following the narrative, but it was also very beautiful and powerful in places, leaving me with vivid images and gripping emotions.

This novel further educated me about the lives of Brazilians living together in a community, sharing their lives and supporting their dreams, although they are often surrounded by pain and destruction. “Bahia Blues” is the real thing; no sugarcoating or optimistic elaboration, but rather telling us how it is in a "favela." Yet, as I said in my passage, I do feel that of the Brazilian literature I have read, there is something in common. There is this never-ending desire to reach for something better, something that holds a sense of hope for all that seek it despite the pain and suffering. And, there is a sense of community in “the square” of Bahia, a sense that everyone is family and that everyone needs to be loved no matter the circumstances. I picked out aspects of Brazilian life that we had often discussed in my Literature course, such as the idea of fortune-tellers like Mama Lourdes and the influential role they play in society. It reminded me of Machado d’Assis’ short story “The Fortune Teller,” where the fate of two young lovers is in the hands of her magic. I also recognized the power of soap-operas and how the banality of Brazilian life is colored and heightened by the melodramatic TV soaps, bringing to screen the familial life “behind closed doors” that no one ever talks about. “Bahia Blues” left me, yet again, with a disturbing feeling that I remember feeling after many of the Brazilian works I’ve read thus far. Yet, there is something very powerful that I get from these works that goes much deeper than the pain and suffering of the circumstances. It is a feeling of survival; of people overcoming aspects of life that often seem unbelievable. I admire Traboulsi’s strength to create these story lines, ones that may ring very close to a life she knows and understands, even though she grew up in Paris. It makes me feel like reading about suffering and poverty is one of the best ways to truly understand it, acknowledge it exists, and feel motivated to go out and change it.