Andrade, Mário Raul de Morais

Abstract Mário Raul de Morais Andrade is one of Brazil's leading writers. He was born in São Paulo on October 9, 1893 to a family of modest means. A musical prodigy, he graduated in 1917 from the Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo (São Paulo Conservatory of Drama and Music), where he subsequently served as a lecturer. Andrade is best known for his role in launching the Brazilian modernist movement in 1922 and for his 1928 masterpiece, Macunaíma: o herói sem nenhum caráter ( Macunaíma: The Hero Without Any Character ). His achievements, however, extend much further. As a theorist, poet, novelist, folklorist, musician, musicologist, art and literary critic, newspaper chronicler, and photographer, he has had a profound and lasting effect on Brazilian culture.