Rebellion in the Backlands by Euclides da Cunha

First published:Os sertões, 1902 (English translation, 1944)

Type of plot: Factual historical chronicle

Time of work: The 1870’s through the 1890’s, especially October, 1896, to October, 1897

Locale: The backlands (os sertões) of Northeast Brazil, centered in Bahia state, especially in and around the town of Canudos

Principal Characters:

• Antonio Vicente Mendes Maciel, “Antonio Conselheiro,” a fanatic religious leader of the backlands rebellion
• Pajehú, a guerrilla leader of the sertanejos, rustic, tough, mixed-race inhabitants of the backlands
• Lieutenant Manuel da Silva Pires Ferreira, the leader of the government’s doomed first expedition
• Major Febronio de Brito, the leader of the government’s doomed second expedition
• Colonel Antonio Moreira Cesar, the leader of the government’s doomed third expedition
• General Arthur Oscar de Andrade Guimarães, the leader of the government’s fourth expedition
• General Claudio do Amaral Savaget, the leader of the second column of the fourth expedition
• Marshal Carlos Machado de Bittencourt, the war minister and eventual commander of the fourth expedition

The Novel

Rebellion in the Backlands is not fiction but rather a factual account of an actual historical event. The event—a rebellion led by a charismatic religious fanatic against the federal government of Brazil—might have sunk into obscurity but for Cunha’s account, which does not merely report the event but also defines and interprets its significance. As a result, Rebellion in the Backlands has been called Brazil’s national epic, and its influence on Brazilian fiction—indeed, South American fiction—has been substantial. The work itself, with its plot buildup, might be said to anticipate the so-called nonfiction novel of later decades.

Cunha does not, however, begin with plot but with extensive essays on the land and the people of the backlands region. Taking up approximately one third of the book and covering geography, geology, rainfall, flora and fauna, race, ethnology, psychology, and other subjects, these two long essays are burdened by outdated nineteenth century theories of environmental influence and race. Cunha draws a daunting picture of the hot, rugged, semidesert sertão, periodically stricken by killing droughts, and speculates that the sertanejo’s personality has been formed by this harsh environment and by his mixed racial heritage (white, black, and Indian). Whereas the admixture of “superior” and “inferior” racial stocks (as Cunha expresses it) has resulted in universal “degeneration” along the Brazilian seaboard, the sertanejo, through isolation in his primitive backlands environment, has become “a retrograde, not a degenerate, type.” He is physically robust but morally backward. The sertanejo’s atavistic tendencies are superbly represented by his undying devotion to the religious fanatic Antonio Conselheiro, himself a spiritualized version of the backlands mentality. In the sertanejo’s simple view, “Anthony the Counselor” is a backlands saint.

These long introductory essays serve to romanticize the subject matter, to set the stage for the narrative of the rebellion. The introductions make clear that the underlying causes of the conflict are cultural differences between the isolated backlands and the developed seaboard. These cultural differences first cause religious friction between the established Catholic Church and Antonio Conselheiro. Later, the Counselor begins preaching against the recently established Brazilian Republic (proclaimed in 1889), whose new taxes and new laws regarding civil marriage and the like offend him. The Counselor’s idea of proper government is a vague theocracy, ruled by the law of God rather than civil law. He and his followers label the republic an Antichrist, call its laws “the law of the hound,” and rip down its tax notices.

In 1893, a contingent of thirty Bahian policemen comes after the Counselor for preaching insurrection. They catch up with him in Massete, where his band routs them in a shoot-out. Another contingent of eighty soldiers turns back when the Counselor fades into the forbidding backlands. The die now cast, Antonio Conselheiro and his followers withdraw to distant, inaccessible Canudos, where they establish their theocracy and military stronghold. Actually, it is a fairly inadequate theocracy, since the motley backlands population rallying to Canudos includes not only thousands of the religiously devout but also hordes of bandits, who raid the surrounding countryside. Despite such depredations and the Counselor’s growing power, the government leaves Canudos alone until October, 1896, when a trivial incident—a dispute between the Counselor and the Joazeiro magistrate over a load of lumber—precipitates the military phase of the rebellion.

With the Counselor’s forces threatening to attack Joazeiro, the town’s magistrate wires for help from the Bahian governor, who dispatches one hundred troops under Lieutenant Manuel da Silva Pires Ferreira to put down the nuisance. This ridiculous expedition arrives in Joazeiro, sets out for Canudos, and, after marching for days through the backlands heat, encounters perhaps thousands of the Counselor’s jagunços at Uauá. The encounter is fierce and swift, and the surviving troops escape only because the jagunços do not pursue.

The government immediately begins organizing a second expedition, involving more federal troops and artillery. After some organizational delays, the second expedition of 560 men, led by Major Febronio de Brito, sets out for Canudos from Monte Santo. Again, there are days of marching through the torrid heat, this time with the jagunços, from the cover of the roadside caatinga (tangled scrub forest), sniping and making running attacks on the advancing column. The expedition’s provisions give out just as, somewhat demoralized and depleted, it arrives in the vicinity of Canudos. Outside Canudos it runs into an ambush and, the following morning, a full-scale enemy attack. Forced to retreat, to the jeers of the surrounding jagunços, the expedition has to fight its way back along the same roads by which it fought its way in. A herd of wild goats frightened into its path proves to be a handy source of food for the men, but of troops arriving back in Monte Santo, not a single one is able-bodied.

Sterner government measures to quell rebels are called for, as well as a forceful leader. The man of the moment is Colonel Antonio Moreira Cesar, a ruthless hero of the Republican wars, whose fame is guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of the jagunços. He is called up from the South to head the third expedition, consisting of thirteen hundred men with artillery.

Colonel Moreira Cesar’s aggressive tactics live up to his reputation. From Monte Santo to Canudos, he leads a series of long forced marches through the backlands heat; as a result, his troops arrive quickly and relatively intact, but exhausted. The colonel decides to storm Canudos immediately, sending columns of his troops charging across the dried riverbed into town and expecting to rout the quivering jagunços. The results, however, are not as encouraging as expected: The troops who survive the enemy fire can be seen spreading out and disappearing down the narrow alleyways and into the wood-and-mud huts. As the attacking troops continue to be absorbed, Colonel Moreira Cesar decides to lead an inspiring cavalry charge. He himself is shot down, however, and the command falls to timid Colonel Tamarindo. Amid the mounting confusion and faltering attack, Colonel Tamarindo consults with his fellow officers, who decide on a retreat the next day. The planned retreat becomes a panic as the jagunços turn and pursue the fleeing troops, who abandon their equipment and wounded along the road. The jagunços line the roadsides with soldiers’ heads and hang the decapitated corpse of Colonel Tamarindo from a bush to dry and blow in the wind.

Stunned by the defeat, the whole nation panics, with rumors flying of a Monarchist conspiracy behind the backlands revolt. The Republic calls for full mobilization of its military resources, which prove to be embarrassingly limited, but within three months a fourth expedition, commanded by General Arthur Oscar de Andrade Guimarães, is organized. The expedition divides into two columns: The first column, consisting of 1,933 men under General Arthur Oscar, leaves from Monte Santo, while a second column, of 2,350 men under General Claudio do Amaral Savaget, departs from Geremoabo. The second column must fight its way to Canudos, but it arrives in time to rescue the first column, pinned down on the town’s outskirts. After the columns link up, a state of siege begins, though sometimes it is difficult to tell who is besieging whom. Since the army has a foothold only on one side of Canudos, the town has easy access to supplies, while the army has trouble getting its supplies through. Meanwhile, the army’s casualties are horrendous.

Seeing the supply problem, Marshal Carlos Machado de Bittencourt, the war minister, steps in at this point and takes charge of the situation. He buys one thousand mules, sets up regular supply trains, and sends in troop reinforcements. Saved by mules, the army begins asserting itself: Through various forays and attacks, it extends its line further into and around Canudos, eventually surrounding the city. After that, Canudos is doomed, though the jagunços continue to resist strongly and to inflict heavy casualties. The army’s artillery bombards the city, starting extensive fires, but somehow the huts absorb the cannonballs and shrapnel. When the army tightens its circle, it must stop the bombardments to avoid endangering its own troops. The center of Canudos resistance must then be taken by close fighting, including hand-to-hand combat. The army tries dynamite bombs briefly, but their effects on the civilian population are so heartrending that, even in this vicious war, they are discontinued. Only one truce is called, to allow some two hundred women, children, and old men to surrender. The remaining defenders of Canudos die to the last man, conveniently falling back into a mass grave that had earlier been dug.

The Characters

The historical personages of Rebellion in the Backlands are not developed or viewed from inside as are characters in a novel. Cunha often gives only their names, and even then he shows an aristocratic bias by naming only officers or leaders: The troops and common folk remain anonymous. The most prominent leaders, however, are accorded elaborate analytical introductions.

Cunha devotes his most complete analysis to Antonio Conselheiro, whom he views as a perfect embodiment of the backlands mentality. Coming from a powerful family previously involved in a bloody feud with a rival family, Antonio Maciel seems born to the pattern of violence endemic to the lawless backlands. Yet the crucial event of his life is a personal blow: When he is a young man, his wife deserts him for a policeman, which seems to leave Antonio Maciel permanently deranged. He begins wandering the backlands roads, eventually adopting the life and appearance (flowing beard, blue tunic, and staff) of an early Christian ascetic. Impressionable and superstitious, the backlands population soon accepts him as Antonio Conselheiro, whose confused message is heard as the wisdom of God. The power which this following gives him makes the Counselor a walking time bomb whose fuse is only shortened by religious and civil persecutions. Primarily important as the rebellion’s instigator, the Counselor gradually fades into the background, dying during Canudos’ last days either from dysentery or from deliberate starvation.

Among the army’s commanders, only Colonel Moreira Cesar and Marshal Bittencourt get full-scale introductions. The heroic Colonel Moreira Cesar is notable for his incongruous physical appearance (reminiscent of a squat, froglike Napoleon) and for his epileptic seizures, a few of which interrupt the forced marches to Canudos. Cunha suggests that the progressive disease is eroding the colonel’s mental faculties, which might help account for his overly zealous tactics. Contrasting with Colonel Moreira Cesar is Marshal Bittencourt, a plodding bureaucrat whose dullness superbly equips him to manage the logistics of mule trains, supplies, and reinforcements. Also contrasting with Colonel Moreira Cesar is his understudy, Colonel Tamarindo, who stands out despite not receiving a full introduction: Nearing sixty and anticipating a peaceful retirement, he instead loses his head and is hung out to dry.

A number of unnamed sertanejos are also memorable, mainly for their toughness—a young boy already hardened in violence, a dried-up old grandmother looking after her wounded grandchild, an old man still fighting even though too weak to lift his gun, the set of dirt-encrusted prisoners. These individual portraits contribute to the collective characterization of the sertanejos as a crafty, hardy, and durable mixed breed, like the mules who save the army. In contrast, the military gives an impression of mass incompetence.

Critical Context

Rebellion in the Backlands is Brazil’s own Iliad, with soldiers and sertanejos replacing Greeks and Trojans. A monumental work of the early Brazilian Republic, Rebellion in the Backlands contributed to the rediscovery of Brazil’s colorful regions, particularly the Northeast, and to the creation of the sertanejo myth. Cunha thereby helped lay the groundwork for the modern flowering of the Brazilian novel, dominated by Nordestino writers. Cunha’s influence can be seen, for example, in such novels as Jorge Amado’s Terras do sem fim (1943; The Violent Land, 1945) and Gabriela, cravo e canela (1958; Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon, 1962), with Gabriela as a modern embodiment of the sertanejo myth.

Indeed, the influence of Rebellion in the Backlands does not stop at Brazil’s borders. It inspired, for example, a fictional retelling of the Canudos story, La guerra del fin del mondo (1981; The War of the End of the World, 1984), by Peruvian novelist Mario Vargas Llosa. More generally, Cunha and other nonfiction writers, particularly sociologists, have helped to define the subject matter of Latin American fiction and have influenced its tendency to incorporate sociology, local color, and other factual material. The bizarre nature of some Latin American fact (especially political fact), as depicted by Cunha and others, has also influenced fictional interest, by novelists such as Argentina’s Julio Cortázar and Colombia’s Gabriel García Márquez, in the interplay of illusion and reality, fact and fantasy.

Bibliography

Amory, Frederic. “Historical Source and Biographical Context in the Interpretation of Euclides da Cunha’s Os Sertões.” Journal of Latin American Studies 28 (October, 1996): 667-685. Examines Cunha’s Europeanism derived from his academic experience, as well as his training as a civil engineer in a military school. His nativism can be traced to his emotional attachment to his country, and both Europeanism and nativism form a big part of Cunha’s novel.

Beebee, Thomas O. “Talking Maps: Region and Revolution in Juan Vincent Benet and Euclides da Cunha.” Comparative Literature 47 (Summer, 1995): 193-314. Beebee discusses the use of landscape in Benet and Cunha’s novels. He examines the similarities in the structure of the novels, compares the representation of conflicts between center and region, and comments on the treatment of the reader as traveler.

Cravens, Gwyneth. “Past Present.” Review of Rebellion in the Backlands, by Euclides da Cunha. The Nation 255 (December 7, 1992): 706-710. Presents a detailed analysis of the plot and characterization in Rebellion in the Backlands. Offers insight into how Cunha’s ethnic background influences the story, as well as how his development of the war theme presaged the form war would take.

Economist “Brazil’s Backland’s Classic.” 342 (March 1, 1997): 83-84. Discusses the reasons for renewed interest in Cunha’s novel and delves into the parallels between the horrendous situations described in the novel and contemporary events.

Epstein, Jack. “Centennial of a War Stirs a Nation.” Christian Science Monitor 89 (October 2, 1997): 216-225. Examines how Cunha’s novel portrays the War of Canudos, which ended in October of 1897, and details the events leading up to the final clash. Epstein also explores the impact of the book on the changing views of Brazilians concerning the massacre.