Adolfo Caminha

Brazilian author

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July 19, 2026

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Adolfo Caminha was a Brazilian author associated with the naturalist literary movement. He is known for his novel Bom-Crioulo (1895), which is considered a landmark naturalist text. This work is notable for its Black protagonist and its open treatment of homosexuality. Caminha's writings often depicted the more violent and unseemly aspects of urban life, exploring human passions. His work, alongside that of Aluísio Azevedo, contributed to the naturalist school in Brazilian literature, which focused on environmental determinism and critiqued social ills.1

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Brazilian literature
Emergence of the republic
…time are Aluízio Azevedo and Adolfo Caminha. Azevedo’s naturalist and somewhat melodramatic novels deal primarily with environmental determinism and denounce social evils. Three novels are representative of Azevedo’s contribution to Brazilian literature: O mulato (1881; “The Mulatto”), on racial prejudice, Casa de pensão (1884; “The Boarding House”), on the effects…
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…time are Aluízio Azevedo and Adolfo Caminha. Azevedo’s naturalist and somewhat melodramatic novels deal primarily with environmental determinism and denounce social evils. Three novels are representative of Azevedo’s contribution to Brazilian literature: O mulato (1881; “The Mulatto”), on racial prejudice, Casa de pensão (1884; “The Boarding House”), on the effects…
Read More