The Clash of the Races: Bilingual Edition

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Originally titled The Black President, or The Clash of the Races, by Brazilian writer Monteiro Lobato, the story is about a young man and woman in Brazil who use a high-tech scope that can see into the future. They follow events in the United States in the year 2228 as Black and white voters vie to elect a president of their own race. It’s close until a feminist candidate pits men against women regardless of race.

And suddenly, a Black man becomes President of the United States. Hard to believe? Not a hundred years after the book was written. But three centuries later, as Lobato tells the story, a Black president is simply not acceptable to whites.

And then things get ugly.

It was shocking in 1926, and it’s even more shocking today. The story inevitably reflects some of the racism that was accepted as normal in the 1920s, when the book was written. At the same time, it opens racism to everyone’s view as the fictional characters grapple with it. An introduction by Vanete Santana-Dezmann puts the racism and the story itself into historical and literary perspective.

Ana Lessa-Schmidt’s insightful and nuanced translation is the first bilingual edition of this Brazilian classic. The original Portuguese appears alongside the English translation.