Carnivals, Rogues and Heroes

"With this one the issue of translation plays a big role. Robert Da Matta is a brilliant writer, an anthropologist who has a column that is syndicated everywhere in Brazil. He is perceptive and funny and, as the title of the book suggests, it’s about carnival and the people who live by their wits in urban Brazil. He has written other books that are equally good and I hope someone translates all of them. He is really fun to read, and since he taught at Notre Dame University in the US for 17 years, he sees things as a Brazilian but is also capable of viewing things dispassionately, from the outside. He knows how to choose anecdotes that bring you into the story – portraits of petty criminals who run the Brazilian numbers game and finance the carnival. It’s called the Animal Game and you bet on the number that corresponds to your animal. So, if you have a dream about an alligator you bet on…it’s 57, I think. It’s existed in Brazil for over a century and it’s really a form of petty crime that’s quite respectable. The men who control it have influence in the areas where they live and they traditionally finance the samba schools. There are eagles, donkeys, butterflies, ostriches. Da Matta has written another book that is an anthropological study of the numbers game that is also very good."