Sayonara Salvioli
Sayonara Salvioli
is a female author from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her personal website describes
her as being a poet, short story writer, columnist, playwright, biographer, and
novelist. She has published four novels, encompassing genres such as romance,
biographical, and a children’s novel. Sayonara regularly publishes her writing
on online blogs. The themes of these blog posts vary widely, and include
fiction and nonfiction short stories, personal observations and reflections on
her life and perceptions of the world, and philosophical thoughts. She explains
her interest in diverse topics by saying "I investigate inexplicable
things that caught my attention. For me, everything is ponderable and plausible
(even when seemingly intangible) until proven otherwise."
Sayonara's
Writings and Connections to Class Themes
In reading several
excerpts of Sayonara’s writing, we were able to make connections between some
of the themes that she deals with, and the major themes that have been
discussed in our class this semester. These pieces either deal explicitly with
women, or else with topics that we have seen to be related to the lives of
women.
First, her piece
titled “The Pink Woman” talks extensively about the nature of women, an
analysis that relates directly with our class on Brazilian women in literature.
In “The Pink Woman”, Sayonara explores the urban myth that bad women never wear
pink, and conversely, that any woman wearing pink must be a good person. She
summarizes this thought, saying, "Better saying it is not that a good woman
needs to always be in pink, but that the evil ones simply never wear it!"
This piece gives a more in-depth look at the varied personalities of women than
some of the other readings from this class.
Some of the other texts from Brazil’s past have the tendency to provide
oversimplified, surface-level views of women, grouping their traits into one
large “feminine” category.
Second,
Sayonara’s piece “The Threefold Theory” discusses her personal beliefs. She
reveals that, although she doesn’t adhere to any specific religious doctrine,
her view of the world is shaped by a combination of many faiths and
philosophies. One major point she explores is the “Threefold Theory”, for which
the text is named. This theory emphasizes the importance of the number three in
a variety of different beliefs. This idea is explained by saying,
"Everything that happens once may never happen again, but everything that
happens twice with the probability and the occurrence of a third will repeat
forever". Sayonara draws together examples from many major religions and
belief systems, to show the pervasiveness of the number three throughout the
world. Her personal beliefs can be seen as being related to the religions of
Brazil as a whole. As discussed in class, many people in Brazil follow
religious traditions that are a combination of Catholic beliefs, indigenous
culture, and African religions. In our discussion of the reading on a woman
named Conceicao, our class agreed that "Her values are guided by religion, but
she interprets meanings into her own life" (Class summary, 4/4). The blending of cultures and philosophies commonly
seen in Brazilian culture is reflected in the beliefs of Sayonara expressed in
“The Threefold Theory”.
Finally,
we read Sayonara’s short story “Queen of the Pigeons”. This piece describes a
woman who lived in Sayonara’s neighborhood. Referred to as a stereotypical
“pigeon woman”, she is often seen feeding and interacting with the pigeons. She
is described as “one that does not follow the flow of humans”, and “hiding from
the world”. The woman goes by the name “Queen Elizabeth”, and wears clothes
from another time. She is rumored to have had her heart broken by a past lover,
resulting in her strange behavior. As Sayonara says, she “has since begun to
isolate herself from the real world and become a character in the kingdom she
had imagined for herself”. Several themes from our class are apparent here. The
first is that of women’s time, clearly illustrated in the pigeon woman’s
non-linear approach to time and the world she lives in. Like many other women,
she experiences time in her own way, disconnected from the world around her.
This disconnection continues in her belief that she is Queen Elizabeth. As we
have seen in other texts throughout this class, this carnivalization, or
tendency of women to contort their view of the world, is a coping mechanism for
the painful reality of their lives. When discussing the novel The Island of the Dead, we identified
this "world existing upside down", saying that "All of the other
characters are female, and can only survive in this carnivalized world"
(Class summary, 3/21). The heartbreak and disappointment that the pigeon woman
suffered in Sayonara's short story represents some of the many challenges that
we have seen can cause women to flip their lives upside down, in order to help
them survive.
Sayonara’s Thoughts in Relation to
Specific Concepts Discussed in Class
According
to Sayonara, the craft of writing in Brazil has a great influence on the
success of female writers. As mentioned earlier, she has written four novels
and is about to publish her fifth novel. Her much anticipated new novel is set
in the 19th century and tells the story of five generations of
African women. This novel could be particularly interesting in context with our
class, for we have discussed various opinions on race relations in Brazil
today. In order for her book to be successful, Sayonara must pick the publisher
who will provide her with the greatest and widest distribution. The advantage
of having a book on the “first shelf” of a bookstore, whether a male or female
writer, is tremendous.
Although
printing provides a Brazilian writer with the means of spreading their work
throughout the country, the easiest way to gain a wide readership, like in any
country, is through the Internet. Sayonara has two blogs, one of which is
through the well-known Internet Corporation, Yahoo. Her blogs give her the
unique advantage of spreading her writing throughout the world to all
audiences.
Women’s
rights have been one of the most pervasive topics throughout our course. We
have read about some progress, but most discussions have revolved around a need
for an even greater amount of progress for women’s rights in Brazil. Sayonara
believes that women have made great progress in the workplace; however, more
progress is necessary. This seems to be a trend among the opinions of all of
the REBRA writers with whom our class conversed. Most of them believe there
have been minor positive changes towards the rights of women; however, there is
still so much to be done. In order to gain rights she believes that women need
a strong leader to empower the movement. Sayonara notes that Rose Marie Muraro
has been one of the greatest icons for the women’s movement in Brazil.
In
the introduction of an interview she conducts with Rose Marie Muraro herself,
Sayonara says she is known as “The Godmother of Brazilian Feminism.” Throughout
the interview one discovers that Rose was a writer, editor, and Brazilian
economist who fought for women’s rights in the 1970s. She wrote over thirty
feminist novels and led several movements. In fact, the Women Emancipation
Movement got her fired and repudiated from the Church. Rose even gained
international success in association with the women’s movement, for she
lectured in many universities including Cornell and Harvard, and she brought
American feminist, Betty Friedan to Brazil. When Sayonara asked Rose about the
success of the women’s movement, she said that women’s suffrage is by far the
greatest achievement to date; however, there is still much to be done. In the
interview, Rose summarized her own role in the improvement of women’s rights by
saying, “I wanted to set fire to the world
and I got it. I have changed the thoughts of a generation and the generations
after that.”
Another
recurring topic in our class discussions was the role of religion within
women’s lives in Brazil. Despite the seemingly blatant inclusion of religious
and philosophical topics in some of her stories, most specifically, “The
Threefold Theory,” Sayonara argues that religion does not influence her
writing. She is extremely spiritual and “seeks the inner light of faith,” while
her writings merely explore the universal thoughts of various societies and
religions. Most of the women we have discussed in class have been heavily
influenced by both Catholicism and Candomble, so her lack of association with
one of these is particularly interesting. Despite this, Sayonara does explore
these topics in her writing in order to educate her readers on various
practices.
Although
Sayonara’s writing is feminist in nature, the intended audience is not limited
to women. Due to her Internet presence, her readership consists of both men and
women of varying backgrounds and professions. In fact, some male readers have
mentioned seeing characteristics of their mother in the older woman described
in “The Queen of the Pigeons.” However, she does believe that her writings
possess a strong female brand that would be clear to any reader.
With Sayanora
serving as an example, it seems as if women writers have a widespread voice
with the potential of making a great impact on the state of women’s rights in
Brazil. We would like to thank Sayonara for her willingness to share her
stories and opinions with us. She has given us the opportunity to hear
first-hand what it is like to be a woman in Brazil. More importantly, she has
shown us how impactful writing can be on a society and culture that still has
much work to do in order to improve the rights of women.
Bibliography
<http://sayonarasalvioli.blogspot.com.br/>
Web. 1 May 2014.
<http://rebra.org/escritora/escritora_ptbr.php?id=1165>.
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