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friendshipwithAnaandheroldestsonSolon,afewyearsyoungerthanthecadets.Ana's
interest in sports, music, and shooting was matched by that of the young Dilermando.
Neném, who seems to have been an accomplished intriguer, soon suggested to Ana
that it would be an excellent idea to have Dilermando move into the Monat and urged
her to suggest it to him. He could accompany them on their excursions, providing the
masculine protections of domestic kinship necessary for freedom of movement for wo-
men of a certain class in Rio. 22 Since the Monat lacked the space necessary for this new
addition,AnaleasedahouseonRuaHumaytaanddecampedtherewithManoelAfonso,
Neném, Dilermando, and a couple of servants. 23
DilhermandowasalmosteverythingthatEuclideswasnot.HewasagauchofromRio
Grande do Sul, the temperate zone of “European” Brazil, rather than from “black” trop-
ical Bahia. He was tall, blond, robust, athletic, sportive, and though not unintellectual,
hardlythepedant that Euclides couldbe.Alsoincontrast toEuclides, headoredthemil-
itary, made his career in it, and would eventually rise to the rank of general. De Assis
had been suspended from Praia Vermelha because he had taken part in antivaccination
riots in Rio, and it was in this hiatus that he ended up visiting the aunts. 24 (Some of the
cadets had opposed this public health measure and had run amok, breaking streetlights
in protest, and were punished by enrollment sanctions.)
Anawastwicetheageoftheseventeen-year-oldDilermando,buttheysoonembarked
on a passionate affair. Euclides had one view of “bronzed titans” while Ana had quite
another. And whatever Euclides's sexual inclinations might have been, his descriptions
ofwomeninhislettersandpublicationsareveryfewand,especiallyin Os Sertões ,quite
derogatory. There are some passing comments on the mistresses of various rubber bar-
ons in his Amazon work, and a laudatory depiction of the wife of Peruvian president
Garramón in military drag, bespurred and leaping into battle, galvanizing the troops. 25
WhileEuclidesdaCunhaclearlylovedhisfamily,atleastpartofhisnomadicprofession
might be understood as a means of keeping his distance from them, or at least from
Ana. 26 Now, after fourteen years of uneasy marriage, Ana was clearly inflamed by her
young lover—and his contrast with her sere, sick, cerebral and absent husband. She had
stoppedwritingtoEuclides.OnlyBazaarAmericaandherclosestintimates knewwhere
she was.
. . .
Da Cunha's leap into the wilderness meant traveling to a realm whose details were
largelyunknown.Thelatexeconomiesweremostlyappreciatedthroughtheirresults:the
phenomenalwealthgeneratedbytheinnovationeconomiesoftheEuro-Americanindus-
trial revolution that relied on rubber: tires, machinery gaskets, water proofed footware
and clothing. Rubber and caucho also made huge fortunes for its commercializers.
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