Letters of love in times of war

Correspondence between Guilherme de Almeida and his wife reveals daily life during the 1932 Revolution

There are several records that tell the story of the Constitutionalist Revolution, which took place between July 9 and October 2, 1932, when approximately 40 São Paulo residents took up arms against the provisional government of Getúlio Vargas, demanding the convening of a Constituent Assembly and the restoration of state autonomy, lost with the end of the Old Republic. The posters urging São Paulo residents to fulfill their duty to the movement, the campaigns with slogans such as "Gold for the good of São Paulo"—encouraging the donation of jewelry to raise funds—and the coverage in major newspapers of the time, such as The State of S. Paul, and the manifestations of the great intellectuals and artists from São Paulo, including the canon of modernism from 1922.

The new book by Maria Eugenia Boaventura, a professor at the Institute of Language Studies (IEL) at Unicamp, explores an unusual collection that helps tell the story of the conflict and of a state mobilized by war: the letters exchanged between the poet and journalist Guilherme de Almeida and his wife, Belkiss Barrozo do Amaral, known as "Baby," between July 25 and August 15 of that year. He, as a member of the so-called "Battalion of Doctors," which brought together, no front, several intellectuals. She, at home, with family and friends who were helping the revolution. In the foreground, the 42 letters describe the longing of a couple in love separated by the conflict. Between the lines, the texts portray the hardships of the combatants, the efforts to support the movement, the role of women in the conflict, and the daily life of the State, which stopped its machinery and went to war. Letters from the Trench: Correspondence between Guilherme de Almeida and his Muse (1932) was published by Editora da Unicamp and Editora Unifesp.

'Guilherminho' and 'Babyzinha'

The couple's correspondence is part of the Guilherme de Almeida Fund, part of the Alexandre Eulálio Cultural Documentation Center (Cedae) at the IEL (University of Campinas), and is one of several collections of important figures of São Paulo modernism, such as Oswald de Andrade, Menotti del Picchia, and Flávio de Carvalho, maintained by Unicamp. "They [the modernist artists and intellectuals] were aware of the historical role they played," says Boaventura, justifying the importance of preserving these collections and conducting studies on them. "When I came across the letters and envelopes, I found something so simple, so interesting, that I thought it could serve as a source of information about São Paulo at that time," he affirms.

The letters are, in fact, simple. Most contain information about the couple's daily life, known as "Guilherminho" and "Babyzinha," as well as many affectionate gestures to soothe their longing and worries about the conflict. Baby describes her routine in São Paulo, with visits to her mother-in-law and sisters-in-law—Guilherme's brothers, including Tácito de Almeida, also enlisted—her fundraising work with the São Paulo Defense League, and the repercussions of the war in the press. "It's like a diary of what they did, a substitute for their presence for the couple," describes the teacher. From the poet's side, news arrived about the hardships in the trenches, such as the lack of supplies, and the hope for victory. "My longing is indescribable. And if it weren't for my trust in God, in you, my love, and in São Paulo, perhaps I wouldn't have survived," wrote Almeida on August 2, 1932.

Boaventura draws attention to interesting aspects of the letters, such as the clues to the prevailing mood among the São Paulo residents, in which an unshakable optimism stands out. "At no point did they think they would be defeated. They seemed numb, always reiterating that they would win." The effort to energize the troops and São Paulo society becomes evident in the appeal that the presence of then-popular figures on the front lines brought to the movement. "Guilherme was perhaps the best-known poet of modernism. He sold many books. He was popular," describes the author. The poet mentions this effect of "celebrity" in the trenches in the letter dated July 29, 1932, written in Cunha, a municipality in the eastern part of the state: "All the young men in this city have been celebrating me a lot. And those in the trenches have also come to invite me to visit them."

Baby's daily life also reveals how São Paulo society adapted to the war scenario. There are constant mentions of the sending of supplies—mostly clothes, chocolates, razors, and cigarettes—and of the repercussions of Almeida's articles published in newspapers and read on the radio. Dealing with censorship of correspondence by the Post Office, an agency linked to the Vargas government that read the messages sent, also became a routine that, in Baby's view, "takes away all the it of letters," as he wrote on July 27, 1932. In this regard, Boaventura notes Almeida's care in preserving his wife's legal name, always addressing his letters to Madame Guilherme de Almeida. "Safeguarding the image of the married woman was a convention of the time. It's a paradox, since these were modernists," the professor states.

Modernists in combat

Members of a establishment A São Paulo native who went beyond the arts and letters, the modernists, when they joined the movement, acted as expected. "With the exception of Oswald de Andrade, all the most prominent modernist intellectuals participated in the revolution," Boaventura asserts. In this regard, Almeida figured as a key figure. Besides being popular, he became the first modernist to join the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) in 1930. The poet even urged the organization to take a stand in favor of São Paulo, but the immortals preferred to stay away from the conflict.

However, the theme of the intellectuals going to front did not enjoy unanimous support. On the national scene, prominent authors, such as Mário de Andrade, balanced their support for the state of São Paulo while avoiding alienation from the rest of the country. "Mário was a close friend of Carlos Drummond de Andrade, who was an advisor to Gustavo Capanema [Minister of Education and Culture]. However, during the revolution, they became estranged," explains the researcher.