Cintia Moscovich's Brazilian View on Jewish Literary Themes

Abstract

This article focuses on the work of Cintia Moscovich, author of four books, and one of the very few Brazilian writers dealing with Jewish subjects. Her writings concentrate on the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, where Jewish immigration began 100 years ago. Unlike Jewish immigrants' literature in Yiddish or in Portuguese, or that produced by their children in Portuguese—when identity confrontation and cultural clashes were unavoidable—her writing is representative of a generation whose clashes and conflicts are attenuated and presented as a register or commentary only. In this article, two of Moscovich's stories are explored in order to highlight some of the main trends in literature on Jews written in Brazil. They are from her third book, Anotações durante o incêndio, where Jewish subjects are at the centre. “Fire” in these stories begins with ordinary family sparks and conflicts which become almost catastrophic. Light humour, irony, and mild yearning pervade these stories and soothe old problems. Journal for the Study of Religion Vol. 19 (2) 2006: pp. 75-86