Bom-Crioulo (English: Bom-Crioulo: The Black Man and the Cabin Boy) is a novel by Adolfo Caminha that addresses Brazilian conceptions of race and sexuality at the turn of the century. The novel tells the story of Amaro, an escaped male slave who falls in love with a blonde, blue-eyed teenage boy. Published in 1895, Bom-Crioulo is the first major Brazilian work on homosexuality, and one of the first to have a black protagonist. Unsurprisingly, Camhina’s contemporary critics lambasted the novel for presenting a positive depiction of homosexuality. The Portuguese version of the work is in the public domain, and readers can download it by clicking the image below.

Robert Howes’ introductory essay to the English translation of Bom-Crioulo can be accessed here as well.

João do Rio, born as Paulo Alberto Coelho Barreto, was a well-respected literary figure during the Brazilian belle époque. A known homosexual, João do Rio managed to rise to the heights of Brazilian society and became a member of the exclusive Brazilian Academy of Letters. Despite public jabs at his sexuality by rival writers and newspaper critics, João was generally admired by the Brazilian elite. As long as João exalted the Brazilian upper classes and their cultural norms, they were willing to overlook his “deviant” sexual behavior.

Click the following link for the introduction to his João do Rio’s collection, A alma encantadora das ruas. 

A cartoonist’s rendering of João do Rio

João do Rio at the turn of the century

Brazilian men began to invert gender roles during Carnival as early as the early 1900s. During Carnival, men take advantage of the socially permitted licentiousness to explore and express their fantasies that transgress rigid gender construct.

A group of male Carnival-goers in 1924