[3] Often attributed to its composition as a “collection of autonomous short stories,”[4] that were originally published in various newspapers throughout 1938 in order for Graciliano Ramos to capitalise on his writings,[5][6] the thirteen chapters of Vidas Secas can be read individually or as a group without affecting the overarching thematic qualities of the novel.

[4] The plot of Vidas Secas follows the exploits of the vaqueiro (cowboy) Fabiano, his wife Sinhá Vitória, their two sons (who remain unnamed throughout the novel), and their dog Baleia (whale), in their attempts to forge a meagre existence within the arid interior of Brazil’s north-eastern Sertão.

[7] The novel opens with Fabiano and his family escaping an extreme drought by taking shelter in an abandoned fazenda (farm), whereupon they await the return of seasonal rains[8] and tend to a wealthy landowner’s cattle.

[9] Although their time at the fazenda initially brings an “austere version of domestic stability,”[9] Fabiano’s inability to negotiate fair wages with the landowner, along with his difficulty in navigating the city and its corrupt officials, ultimately leaves the family destitute.

[12] In the final chapters of the novel after continued economic deprivation at the hands of the wealthy landowner,[6] along with the deep foreboding of the onset of yet another drought,[13] the family escapes under the cover of night to wander towards “a big city in hopes of a better life.”[9] “In the context of Brazilian literature Graciliano Ramos stands out as one of the most provocative names, having significantly contributed to its coming of age in all senses, but especially with respect to the aesthetic representation of social problems.”[3] Following the publication of the prolific works Caetes (1933), São Bernardo (1934), and Angústia (1936), Vidas Secas was the fourth and final novel produced by Graciliano Ramos.

[3] Though at the time he was not a member of the Communist Party, Ramos’ imprisonment was one of many in Vargas’ politically repressive campaign and is speculated to have influenced the “representation of extreme deprivation and the unequal distribution of power”[6] throughout Vidas Secas.

No doubt influenced by Ramos’ upbringing in the State of Alagoas in the North-East of Brazil,[3] the events of Vidas Secas largely take place upon the bleak backdrop of the drought-stricken and exceptionally inhospitable Sertão.

[31] In other words, Ramos employs the use of the Sertão setting to “recreate the drama of people eking out a living in a land flagellated by natural calamities.”[27] Modernismo: or ‘Modernism,’ in a Brazilian context, refers to the two literary, artistic, and cultural waves of the broader Modernist Movement in the 1920s and 1930s.

[42] Similarly, due to Ramos’ focus on the humiliation and misery of individuals’ struggle with the dichotomy of progress and backwardness within the Brazilian modernisation process, Vidas Secas is also considered to belong to the genre of Modernism.

[44] This is due to the intrinsic links in writing practices between Modernism and Regionalism with Realism or Neorealism,[35] as well as Ramos’ literary experimentalism in attempting to document the reality of impoverished workers living in the hinterlands.

[40] Similarly, due to the novel’s engagement with social problems and direct attempts to highlight the reality of Brazilian contemporary society, Antonio Candido argued that Vidas Secas belonged to the genre of Naturalism.

[51][8] In line with Vidas Secas’ conformity to the narrative tropes of the ‘sertanista’ or regionalist genre, Ramos’ novel aims to emphasise the social and cultural underdevelopment in Northeastern Brazil by illustrating the impoverished living conditions, malnutrition, and illiteracy, inherent to the Sertão.

[11][8] Critics have pointed to the eldest son’s obsession with learning a new word as Ramos’ attempt to illustrate the fact that language or illiteracy can be a major barrier to social mobility within impoverished communities.

[58] Dos Santos’ adaptation is said to be so faithful to Ramos’ written work that one critic argued that the film “wears down the words of the original text by the finicalness with which it repeats descriptions and dialogue.”[60] The film’s aesthetic qualities of starkly stylised visuals and sharp textures have been compared to both the German post-expressionist conception of Magical Realism, as well as manifestations of Alejo Carpentier’s distinctive ‘Marvelous Real.’[10] Dos Santos’ exploration of the bleak subject matter of “landscape’s imposing barrenness, the faces and bodies of suffering animals and people, and a flinty, hardscrabble ethos,”[10] is magnified by deep-focus lighting[10] and an apparent narrative directness which resembles the directorial tropes of Neorealism.

[57] The aesthetic beauty of Dos Santos’ adaptation is such that one Vincent Canby, in a 1969 review, argued that the film’s cinematography “ultimately makes poverty photogenic,”[61] and undermines the political messages of Vidas Secas.