Triste Fim de Polycarpo Quaresma
By Lima Barreto
Cover: Posse de Deodoro da Fonseca (undated), painting by Eliseu Visconti (1866–1944) · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain (artist died 1944)
Major Policarpo Quaresma, a quiet civil servant in Rio de Janeiro, loves Brazil so sincerely that he petitions for Tupi to become the national language. Lima Barreto follows his patriotic projects, in culture, farming and politics, through the troubled early years of the Republic.
Summary written with Claude Opus 5.5.