The Guys and Dolls of Jorge Amado

IT HAS BEEN several years since I first read Jorge Amado's novel Capitaes da Areia, which tells the story of a gang of Bahia's homeless children, who live on the outer edge of society. Yet I still remember vividly the sense of d&jd vu that I experienced, as well as my instant conclusion that the characters, who were named The Professor, God's Favorite, Little Pill, The Cat, Two Stumps and Dry Run were the South American counterparts of Damon Runyon's Harry the Horse, Dave the Dude, Phillie the Weeper and other picturesque citizens, as he likes to call them, on the outer fringe of New York's Broadway society. A recent careful rereading of the works of the two authors does not sustain the illusion of similarity. Runyon's ironic objectivity, his pretended refusal to admit any involvement either as writer or thinker for the social consequences of the crimes and misdemeanors that his characters engaged in is a far cry from the passionate involvement of Amado with his characters. Yet there are moments when Amado does not seem too far from the New Yorker. Perhaps the occasional parallels that suggest themselves may excuse me for clinging to the picturesque terminology guys and dolls as applied to the characters of Jorge Amado

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