Rural Odyssey Iv Parallels: Abilene - Cowboys - "Cordel"

By Mark J. Curran

"RURAL ODYSSEY IV - PARALLELS Abilene - Cowboys - "Cordel" is a return to the "Rural Odyssey" series, a narrative in fiction telling of Professor Mike O'Brien's work on a "History of Abilene," life with his young wife, Professor Mariah Palafox O'Brien, and their jobs at DDEC (Dwight D. Eisenhower College) in Abilene. After telling of his "History of Abilene," the book recounts Mike and Mariah's trip to Brazil in the summer of 1971 via Fulbright Lecture Grants. Mike gives talks on Eisenhower, Abilene and the Cowboy days, cowboys and "cordel," and Mariah lectures on American Literature. "The Great Gatsby," "The Sound and the Fury," and "To Kill a Mockingbird" are a few highlights. They meet important military, literary, and folkloric figures in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Bahia and Recife and visit Brazil's famous tourist and cultural sites as well. Mike's Catholic and Mariah's Jewish heritages come into play.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jan 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9781698713939

Mark J. Curran

Mark J. Curran is Professor Emeritus from Arizona State University where he worked from 1968 to 2011. He taught Spanish Language as well as the Survey of Spanish Literature, a seminar on "Don Quixote," and Civilization of Spain and Latin American Civilization. He also taught the Portuguese Language (Brazilian Variant) as well as a Survey of Luso-Brazilian Literature, Luso-Brazilian Civilization, and Seminars on Chico Buarque de Hollanda and Brazil's Folk-Popular Literature (the "Literatura de Cordel"). He has written forty-four books, eight in academic circles before retirement, thirty-six with Trafford in retirement. Color images of the covers and summaries of the books appear on his website: www.currancordelconnection.com His e-mail address is: [e-mail]

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RURAL ODYSSEY IV

PARALLELS

ABILENE - COWBOYS - CORDEL

Mark J. Curran

© Copyright 2023 Mark J. Curran.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in these plays are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

ISBN: 978-1-6987-1392-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6987-1393-9 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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CONTENTS

Prologue

PART I

WORK AT DDEC

1   History. Abilene Cowtown

2   History. Abilene. Dwight D. Ike Eisenhower

3   History. Abilene. The Cemeteries and Movers and Shakers in Town

4   History. Abilene. The Buildings and The Mansions and The Trains

5   History. The Smoky Hill Trail

6   Abilene, The Cowboys, Movies, and Movie Posters

7   The Cowboy Movie Stars from The 1940S and 1950S, A Partial List

8   Select Titles, Western Cowboy Movies, The B Movies and The Oaters

PART II

RESEARCH: COWBOYS AND CORDEL

A   The Topics

B   Titles from The Literatura De Cordel Useful for Parallels to The American Cowboy Phenomenon

PART III

THE RESEACH RESULTS

A   Cowboys and Cordel

B   The Bucking Bronco Scene from The Movie Monty Walsh with Lee Marvin – Parallel to The Same in O Boi Misterioso

C   Wild Brahma Bulls – The Task to Ride Them (U.S.) or to Catch Them and Bring Them Down (Brazil)

D   The Cattle Call Song – Eddy Arnold - Yodeling

E   The Dog Hero

F   Brave Cowboys and Brave Brazilian Back Landers

G   Bandits, Heroes and Villains

H   Cowboys, Bandits, and Religion

I   John And Mary Story - Poems: Lovers in Cordel The Lovers in Cowboy Movies

J   Far-Oeste, Bângue-Bângue Movies, and American Movie Stars in Cordel at The Fairs and Markets

K   Epithets – Cowboy Movies and Cordel

L   The Cowboy Works for The Evil Rancher, Falls in Love with The Rancher’s Daughter, and has to Defend Himself and His Lady in Battle

M   The Bandit Wants to Reform but Is Hunted Down By The Police. Movie Posters

N   Brave Back Landers, A Rich Topic

O   The Cowboys, The Western Ballads, The Movie Songs and Posters

P   Cowboys and Cordel – The Guns, The Duels, The Differences

Q   Cool, Cool Water and The Desert Crossing in Cordel [Travessia]

R   Disparada and The Sertão

PART IV

MARIAH AND WHAT IS TO COME

The Call to Professor Skidmore, Talk With Dean Halderson, and The Plan

THE BRAZILIAN ADVENTURE - 1971

June 10th. Friday, Varig to Rio, Copacabana Beach, the Braseiro

June 11th and … June 12th. Saturday and Sunday, Copacabana Beach, Ipanema Beach, the Hippy Fair

June 13th, Monday, the Escola Superior de Guerra

June 14th. Tuesday. The Casa de Rui Barbosa, Sebastião Nunes Batista

June 15th, Wednesday. FUNARTE, Rick’s, Painting the National Library

June 16th, Thursday, (ah, Bloom’s Day from Ulysses) Talks at the Casa de Rui Barbosa, the Salão Nobre, the Reception

June 17th, Friday, Preparation for Talks, Missa do Vaqueiro

June 18th, Saturday, Umbanda with Sebastião Nunes Batista

June 19th, Sunday, The Feira de São Cristóvão

June 20th, Monday, Mariah Shines at the Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro

June 21st, Tuesday, Varig to São Paulo, the MASP Museu de Arte de São Paulo

June 22nd, Wednesday, The José Mindlin Foundation and Meeting Him

June 23rd, Thursday, Mariah Meets the Rabbi. We Meet Audálio Dantas.

June 24th, Friday, We Meet Joseph Luyten

June 25th, Saturday, Prepping for Levi Ferrari, the Interview, Dinner with Audálio and Vanira

June 26th, Sunday, The Folk – Art Fair of the State of São Paulo

June 27th, Monday, The Talks at USP

June 28th, Tuesday, A Return to Bahia

June 29th, Wednesday, The Lower City, the Modelo Market, Rodolfo Coelho Cavalcante and Camaféu de Oxossi

June 30th, Thursday, Barra Beach, A Portuguesa, Tourism in the Old Upper City

July 1st, Friday, The Núcleo de Pesquisa da Literatura de Cordel

July 2nd, Saturday, Mike talks at the Club Militar

July 3rd, Sunday, Varig to Recife, The São José Market and the Poets

July 4th, Monday, Meeting Ariano Suassuna and Visiting the Instituto Joaquim Nabuco de Pesquisas Sociais, Meeting David Lisboa

July 5th, Tuesday, The Recife Synagogue

July 6th, Wednesday, The Flight to Miami and then Boston, Reviewing Brazil.

July 7th, Thursday, Meeting Professor Skidmore, Checking In, Tentative Plans

Internet Sites Consulted for This Book

About The Author

PROLOGUE

It is late July 1970, and I am back to Abilene, Kansas with my recent bride Mariah Palafox O’Brien. We have just returned from an unforgettable honeymoon trip to Brazil where I introduced Mariah to the joys of body surfing on Copacabana Beach in Rio, its must tourist sites of Corcovado and the Christ figure (Do we ever get away from this guy? Bigger and better, huh! Mariah poked me in the side and winked.) and Sugar Loaf Mountain. A romantic evening topped it all off – the Berro d’Água restaurant and nightclub high above Rio with an astounding view of the Crist statue through the mist and the beaches of Ipanema and Leblon far below. We dined and danced to beautiful, quiet Bossa Nova Music.

I might add that I squeezed in two or three days of collection of broadsides of the literatura de cordel, the first with lots of xeroxing at the Casa de Rui Barbosa in Rio, then at the great Feira Nordestina in Rio’s north zone and good talks with poets Azulão and Apolônio Alves dos Santos (they were much more conversational with this beautiful girl at my side).

Our travel was terrific; we had a wonderful tourist deal – the Varig Airlines Air Pass which gave us pre-paid passes anywhere in Brazil for one month. So, we hightailed it out southwest to Paraná State and Iguaçu Falls. We stayed at the rather run-down Cataratas Hotel, but with the feature of being just a short walk to the falls. It was romantic (we had never been to Niagara Falls, but you can’t beat this.) We walked for a time and stopped at each entrance and new views until we reached the end and The Devil’s Throat. Astounding! Just like Robert de Niro in The Mission. The walk worked up a ravenous appetite which was thoroughly satisfied in the terrific buffet dinner, unlike the rest of Brazil and more like home: wonderful roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh vegetables, and best of all, real lemon – meringue pie for dessert! Where are we, in Kansas? And all the hotel staff were tall, European-looking, and speaking a Portuguese I had never heard in Brazil, pronouncing initial R and final R like the R in English. RRRRRRR. No trill, no aspiration. Once again, where in the hell are we?

Next day back on Varig to Bahia, the most African of all Brazilian cities, former capital of the country for over two hundred years, with amazing, wonderful historical sites: 16th century architecture and buildings to match, including Brazil’s most beautiful church, A Igreja de São Francisco, a great small beach – Barra Beach – down the hill and with a terrific Portuguese Restaurant to the side. A real Bahian restaurant treat was later in the upper city in Campo Grande in the park near the Governor’s Palace and it had all the Bahian food specialties (Mariah loved it, so did I but paid the price later). Finally, we topped it all off the next day with a visit to its famous market in the lower city – O Mercado Modelo – made famous in the stories and novels of Jorge Amado, my favorite Brazilian writer. And we made a great cordel connection – the poetry stand of no less than Rodolfo Coelho Cavalcante outside the market. I knew all about him from initial study at Brown and Harvard. He wrote cordel broadsides from the 1940s to now in 1970, had over, are you ready, one thousand titles to his credit, and was spearheading a national campaign to make cordel and its poets known to all middle and upper-class Brazilians! I practically bought out the poetry stand, perhaps up to 200 titles. Rodolfo had chronicled Brazilian politics since the Fascists of World War II, the Getúlio Vargas Era from 1930 to 1954, the democratic presidents of the late 1950s and now the military dictator ship since 1964. All these events I had studied with Professor Skidmore at Brown and Harvard. I apologized to Mariah for these research moments, but she said she understood and was fascinated by it all and My time will come young goy, my time will come.

And the last evening was a terrific show by the Balé Folclórico da Bahia which provided music, dance, singing and the best of the African culture! Capoeira, Maculelê, and Candomblé dances. We had a final drink overlooking the Bahia de Todos os Santos and made love later.

The final stop was Varig taking us perhaps two thousand miles to the riverine city of Manaus, the capital of Amazonas State, the city located one thousand miles upriver from the Atlantic near Belém do Pará. I think I’ve said Mariah had never been to Brazil (nor had I for that matter), and did not know Portuguese, but she was thrilled at this entire new travel and cultural adventure and said she now understand why I was so excited about it. She did ponder the question of being Jewish in Brazil. She knew from our talk and her own family Sephardi background that there was a major Jewish presence in Brazil during the 16th and 17th centuries, people who had left Spain and Portugal just like her family when the Catholic Kings disinvited them all in 1492. And she knew that the Jews were instrumental in establishing and fostering sugar cane production in Pernambuco before once again having to leave Brazil, some migrating to Amsterdam and then on to New York. It was a topic and matter we had to research in the future.

Manaus the next two days really cemented the stereotyped notions of Brazil – a huge market with fish, plants, and food from the Amazon rainforest and dozens of river tributaries. We took the boat ride to where the Rio Negro meets the Solimões coming down from Peru to form the true Amazon. And we saw the incredible Opera House built with the riches from the rubber boom (but with the backbreaking labor of the Indians and mixed blood caboclos). Folklore has it that no less than Caruso came to inaugurate the opera, and the curtains and statuary came directly from Europe. The real Brazilian contribution was the amazing hardwood floors, mainly of jacaranda or Brazilian rosewood.

Our hotel was to the side of the Rio Negro where we swam in the huge pool, drank caipirinhas and listened once again to the smooth sound of a Bossa Nova Trio. The park of the hotel had a private zoo with toucans, macaws and even a jaguar or onça. The honeymoon ended on the last night at the Hotel Rio Negro. We flew out on the huge Varig jet the next day to Miami and made connections to Kansas City.

It is now mid-July and we have just had a fun visit with Mariah’s parents Benjamin and Ariel and her brother Josh in Overland Park, filling them in on the honeymoon (well, not all the honeymoon) and our plans for the coming Fall at our jobs in my hometown of Abilene, Kansas. I am an Assistant Professor of Spanish and History, Mariah the same in English but with an important added duty, Dean of Women. This is all at the prospering, growing four-year college aptly named the Dwight D. Eisenhower College or DDEC at it was becoming known locally.

My parents Sean and Molly and sister Caitlin and her husband Ron Schmidt are all still around and welcomed us home once again, all reminiscing on the wonderful time at the open – air wedding on the old farm just in June.

We have good salaries for the times and are saving part of each paycheck, but still opt for renting a nice apartment in one of the old mansions on north Buckeye. Both of us are in no hurry to have the burdens of being homeowners, and besides, we plan on being busy elsewhere in the summers off from school. Dean Halderson who wooed us from the east as recent Harvard grads said advancement (meaning promotion to Associate Professor rank) would be based primarily on our teaching and service to DDEC, but that he understood that we both were trained and inclined to research as well. He said DDEC would encourage such research in the summers and would provide a nice stipend to help. We learned early that a smart teacher, even a professor, would take his salary spread over 12 months, this for the nine-month school year.

Before I go on with all that would happen in the school year and beyond, just one note may clarify what would happen. My dissertation advisor (and mentor previously at Brown, Professor Skidmore) called early that Fall. He said he checks in with all his Ph.D. advisees and graduates, but we were both on his mind. How did we like the great American sertão (the outback in northeastern Brazil) and he laughed. He admitted he and Harvard colleagues were both surprised and disappointed in our choice of jobs and that we could have done much better, notwithstanding the fame of Ike Eisenhower and the college named after him.

I have something for you to think about. My new book on Brazilian Politics is out and doing quite well. Harvard is happy and research money flows! That’s where you come in. Mike and Mariah; you have not been away from our minds. I can easily arrange for a comfortable grant for next summer in 1971 for the both of you – a few weeks in Brazil for teaching and research. You would be asked to do a few lectures at Brazilian research entities and schools. I remember Mike’s love for Brazilian Literature and the connection, of what is it called, the Brazilian literatura de cordel and its similarities to the Mexican corridos and such you wrote of in the dissertation. And incidentally, my new book comes after extensive research and mingling with the military hierarchy running Brazil today. Mike, you the new Man from Abilene," are in a unique position to give talks on Ike Eisenhower, his growing up in your town before West Point and the rest. Believe