The Modern Novel

Biography

Euclides da Cunha was born in 1866 in Cantagalo, Rio de Janeiro. He attended Escola Militar da Praia Vermelha, a military school in Rio but was expelled in 1888 after joining a political protest against the visit of the Brazilian War Minister, Tomás Coelho. He was readmitted the following year and then joined the Escola de Guerra in 1891. He left the army in1896 to study civil engineering. In 1897 he accompanied the army during the War of Canudos, working as a journalist for O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper. This formed the basis of his best-known book Os Sertões (Rebellion in the Backlands; later: Backlands: The Canudos Campaign).
In 1904 he was appointed to the joint Brazilian-Peruvian Commission to decide on the Brazil-Peru border. This work formed the basis of his posthumous work À margem da história.
In 1909, he found out that his wife, Anna, was having an affair. He went to the house of her lover, Dilermando de Assis, and shot him and his brother but failed to kill either man. Dilermando de Assis shot back and killed Da Cunha. De Assis was later exonerated and subsequently married Anna.

Other links

Euclides da Cunha
Euclides da Cunha
What Insanity Is This, Dr. Euclides?
Euclides da Cunha (in Portuguese)
Euclides da Cunha (in Portuguese)
Euclides da Cunha (in Portuguese)
Euclides da Cunha (in Portuguese)
Euclides da Cunha (in Portuguese)