Travel Made Fiction - South America by Air is the seventh book in Mark Curran’s “Adventure Travel” series. it combines real life history, culture and tourism with an at times humorous fictional account of travelers and staff of AT on the trip. There are ten parts, like the Greek epic. Travel is to Peru, Buenos Aires, Uruguay, Iguacu, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador da Bahia, Manaus, Bogota, Cartagena de Indias and Isla San Andres in the Caribbean. Mike and Amy Gaherty, now married, lead the way with logistics and cultural introductions to the travels. in its totality, the book indeed is an epic of travel with highlights of places and peoples of South America. richly illustrated with the author’s photos, it could also be a coffee table book with vivid color images. The book harks back to travel over 50 years to Latin America and Curran’s classes teaching about it.

FIVE “ROMANCES” OF “CORDEL” is a return to a long - time research topic, but now to the very beginnings of Brazil’s “literatura popular em verso” or “literatura de cordel.” The early “romances” or “historias” of “cordel” began as narrative poetry telling a story based on popular literature from Portugal, Spain and France. The stories from Europe were in prose and were sold by the Livreiro Garnier in Rio de Janeiro at the end of the 19th century. Poets like Leandro Gomes de Barros, Joao Melchiades Ferreira da Silva, Jose’ Camelo de Melo Resende, Marcos Sampaio and others converted the prose stories to verse. This author has chosen five of the most famous and placed the Portuguese originals alongside his own English translations along with notes, commentary and asides. A Labor of Love. Enjoy.

RURAL ODYSSEY VI ABILENE - TRAIL MIX combines fiction and history. It tells of Mike O’Reilly, his wife Mariah Palafox O’Reilly and daughter Ariel’s return to Abilene, Kansas for a one - year stay. Mike and Mariah hold adjunct positions at DDEC, Dwight D. Eisenhower College, where Mike taught since 1963 and Mariah in the 1970s. Daughter Ariel returns to the town and schoolmates where she grew up. Mike’s research on a new book at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library is followed by fieldwork tracing the famous cow towns of the Chisholm Trail and major frontier trails west - the Smoky Hill River Trail from Kansas to Colorado and the all-important Santa Fe Trail from Kansas to New Mexico. The latter connects with the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail from Mexico City to Santa Fe.

Research and life in Abilene are mixed as well, the latter with some surprises.

Letters from Brazil V “Let the Good Times Roll” is a return to the series treating Professor Mike Gaherty and his research and adventures in Brazil. Now in 1985 Mike is in Brazil working for James Hansen of the International Section of the “New York Times.” Mike’s task is to research and report on Brazil in 1985 in the post dictatorship era, including President Elect Tancredo Neves and the “Accidental President José Sarney.” He does this in part with new reporting on “cordel” and the Northeastern Market in Rio de Janeiro. Along with renewing old friendships and research contacts, Mike spends time in Fortaleza and Canindé in Ceará State, at the “Missa do Vaqueiro” celebration in Pernambuco, and new travels in São Paulo and then Porto Alegre with the renowned Luis Fernando Verissimo. New and a surprise are two awards, the first at the Brazilian Academy of Letters and then a modest award in Lencois Paulista in the interior of Sao Paulo State. The latter takes place with Mike his wife Molly and is followed by a whirlwind tourist trip to Salvador, Manaus and Rio de Janeiro.

An additional thread in the book is Mike’s dealings with no less than four Brazilian women, a hiatus from marriage back home.

Brazil’s “Literatura De Cordel” – The broadside engravings of Mexico’s Jose Guadalupe Posada - This lengthy manuscript compares the cover illustrations and verse of Brazil's "Literatura de Cordel" and its best-known author Leandro Gomes de Barros to the illustrations ("grabados" or engravings) of José Guadalupe Posada and the broadsides of the A. Vanegas Arroyo Press in Mexico in the early 20th century. There is an amazing similarity and many coincidences between these two forms of folk - popular culture from opposite ends of the Americas - Brazil and Mexico. The specific art of making prints to the coincidences of theme from the first two decades of the century in Brazil's Northeast to Mexico City and environs are outlined in the book. Just as samples, the decades of banditry and religious uprising in Brazil compared to the heroes of the Mexican Revolution and border bandits of the same era are just one large parallel. The prints and background of them and many more are in this fun book.

[A GRANJA – A JUVENTUDE EM ABILENE, KANSAS NOS ANOS 1940 E 1950]

Mark Curran passou a juventude em uma granja familiar perto de Abilene, Kansas, nos anos 1940 e 1950.  Abilene, além de ser uma pequena cidade linda com muitos prédios históricos e casas de estilo Victoriano em ruas sombradas, é famosa por seu papel nas famosas vaqueijadas no século XIX desde o estado de Texas e daí virando centro de embarque para o gado ao Leste, isso devido ao fato de ter três diferentes linhas de estrada de ferro atravessando a cidade.  Abilene também foi o lugar de nascimento de Dwight D. Eisenhower, general e chefe das forças dos Aliados na campanha de derrotar o Eixo na Segunda Guerra Mundial, e, depois Presidente da nação.

The Royal Princess is a return to the author’s “Adventure travel” series, now the 6th. it is based on real travel but made fiction. Professor Mike Gaherty and Assistant expedition leader Amy Carrier, long time friends and collegues and some time lovers, reconnect in a new venture for At - a Partnership with Princess lines. At in effect will add to the passenger list of an itinerary already planned by Princess for Fall, 1989. “the Mediterranean - A voyage into history” is ambitious with stops in ten destinations. the author has chosen to follow the Greek and roman Classic epics in his plan for the book - 10 Chapters or “Cantos.” 1. rome 2. venice 3. dubrovnik 4. Crete and heraklion 5. ephesus 6. istanbul 7. Yalta and Odessa 8. the Bosporos and on Board the royal Princess 9. the Greek Cyclades - delos and Mykonos 10. Anthens and sounion. the book aims to inform and entertain, in effect, to introduce the reader to the basics of history and culture of a significant part of western Civilization and have fun at the same time.

RURAL ODYSSEY V - TROUBLE IN A KANSAS RIVER TOWN is a return to fiction. It tells the latest in Curran’s stories of Abilene, Kansas. Trouble comes to Abilene in an unexpected armed attack on the town and its residents in 1971 by KKK and “rugged individualists” out for revenge for the conviction and imprisonment in Abilene of their relatives and cronies in past years. Following the “troubles,” the author writes of protagonists Mike and Mariah’s teaching at the Dwight D. Eisenhower College in Abilene, the birth of their daughter Ariel Sarah O’Brien Palafox, and the Palafox family’s travel to Spain. With the passage of time and events in Abilene, Mike and Marah make a life changing move back east and work and teaching at Harvard.

Book Two - a Novella - Ballad of the “Smoky Hill River Rambler” tells the story of Abilene’s Mickey Clancy’s dream of performing (singing and playing guiitar, including classical guitar) in the restaurants and bars in Durango and other towns of Southwest Colorado. As his music evolves and the repertoire grows, he encounters romance and surprises, not always pleasant, as an itinerant musician.

"ADVENTURE TRAVEL" IN COLOMBIA - MOMENTS OF MAYHEM Or, Colombia Revisited is a return to the author's travel and research in Colombia years ago, but now revised and made into "historical and cultural fiction." Professor Michael Gaherty and "Adventure Travel" Assistant Expedition Leader Amy Carrier travel to Colombia to research and scope out the country for a possible Expedition Trip by the Company. They experience wonderful travel moments, some moments of mayhem, and scary, dangerous surprises while on the journey. Medellín, Santa Fé de Antioquia, Bogotá, Cali, Popayán, Silvia, Tunja, Places of Interest in Boyacá State including Villa de Leiva, and finally, Cartagena de Índias and Colombia's "Microcosm of the Caribbean", Isla San Andrés round out the itinerary.

The Writing and Publishing Journey is a summary and catalogue of all of Professor Curran’s writings. It includes the academic books before retirement, the academic and cultural books during retirement, the experiments with fiction based on the former, and a brief addendum of academic articles in research journals. Each volume is introduced by the cover image in full color. The abiding objective is to recall in a conversational way the when, why and how of each book, that is, when it was written, the circumstances of how and why it was written, and perhaps most interesting the odyssey of getting it into print. Any professor in Academia will relate to this endeavor, and amateur writers and interested readers should enjoy the journey as well.

RURAL ODYSSEY IV - PARALLELS Abilene - Cowboys - “Cordel” is a return to the “Rural Odyssey” series, a narrative in fiction telling of Professor Mike O’Brien’s work on a “History of Abilene,” life with his young wife, Professor Mariah Palafox O’Brien, and their jobs at DDEC (Dwight D. Eisenhower College) in Abilene. After telling of his “History of Abilene,” the book recounts Mike and Mariah’s trip to Brazil in the summer of 1971 via Fulbright Lecture Grants. Mike gives talks on Eisenhower, Abilene and the Cowboy days, cowboys and “cordel,” and Mariah lectures on American Literature. “The Great Gatsby,” “The Sound and the Fury,” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” are a few highlights. They meet important military, literary, and folkloric figures in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Bahia and Recife and visit Brazil’s famous tourist and cultural sites as well. Mike’s Catholic and Mariah’s Jewish heritages come into play.

Book I - ASU Days tells the story beginning with graduate study for the Ph.D in Spanish and LatinvAmerican Studies and the account of Mark’s years at Arizona State University. It is comprised of memories of teaching and research days at ASU but also a description of campus life dating to 1968.

Book II - The Guitars - A Music Odyssey recounts the role of music in Mark’s life from age 14 in 1955 to the present. The main characters are the guitars: a simple steel stringed Stella in 1955, an electric Kay and amplifyer in high school, 1955 - 1959 and college days, a Brazilian Rosewood Classic from Rio de Janeiro in 1966 and a Manuel Rodríguez Classic from Madrid, electrified for performance, 2002. The study, learning, practice and the performing range from early pop and Rock n’ Roll from Elvis Presley days, to serious home study of classic guitar, to the folk tunes of the 1960s, Classic Country and Western, Irish, “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” and Classic Guitar and Contemporary Catholic Songs for meditation at church. The final chapter is a work in process: practice and performance at home.

[English Only] Adventure Travel in Guatemala - The Maya Heritage is the fourth in the series of fiction - travel - culture - adventure books on Brazil, Mexico, Portugal-Spain, and now Guatemala. Professor Mike Gaherty and AT Leader Amy Carrier are in Guatemala researching that country as a destination for a future AT Travel Trip for its “Adventurers.” They investigate Antigua, Puerto San José, el Lago de Atitlán, Chichicastenango, Tikal in Guatemala and Copán in Honduras, checking out the history and culture of both the Spanish and Maya Heritages. Emphasis however is on the Maya people, their lives and efforts to survive under adverse circumstances in post 1976 earthquake and political turmoil in Guatemala. There are surprises and dangerous moments for Mike and Amy, and difficult decisions to come for AT Travel.

The Master of the ‘Literatura de Cordel’ - Leandro Gomes de Barros. A Bilingual Anthology of Selected Works” is Professor Curran’s return to research and writing from his first days in Brazil in 1966-1967 on a Fulbright Hays Fellowship for Ph.D. dissertation work. This book treats “Cordel’s” best known and arguably best poet, a translation to English of his selected works, and a commentary on his pioneering days of the “Literatura de Cordel.” Among the poet’s topics were the changing times, foreigners in Brazil, government-politics-and war, mothers-in-law, sugar cane rum, religion and satire, banditry, the oral poetic duel, and the long narrative poems from the European popular tradition. Curran in addition gives a synopsis of the “Literatura de Cordel” as it was in its heyday in his initial research in the 1960s. The translation was a challenge but also a great pleasure.

ENGLISH ONLY Letters from Brazil IV is the most recent in the series of Professor Mike Gaherty’s travel and research in Brazil. He has returned in 1984 after an “invited” hiatus since 1971 by the General heading Brazil’s Pre-Censorship Board, this due to Mike’s friendship, research, collaboration with, and defense of singer-composer Chico Buarque de Hollanda. He is reporting on current events and politics for the International Section of the “New York Times,” in liason with the Institute of International Research, Latin American Sector. This includes the volatile climate of “Direct Elections Now” for the presidency. He is shadowed by the DOPS (the Brazilian Security Agency) but has become great friends with the Captain in charge of keeping an eye on him. Mike renews many old friendships and finds time to update his research specialty “The Literatura de Cordel” as folk - popular journalism since censorship ended in 1979. He also has to maneuver between some and side step other former romantic liasons in Brazil. Further collaboration in a Chico Buarque concert and dealing with Brazilian security forces gets dicey. Brazilian literature, religion, music, food and his own nostalgia for “Black Orpheus” complete the adventure.

ENGLISH ONLY The Collection is meant as an introduction to and summary of Curran’s primary and secondary holdings on Brazil’s “Literatura de Cordel” now at the Latin American Library of Tulane University. The book relates the story of how the “cordel” collection was put together including telling of its primary sources, the poets themselves and “cordel” stands or “barracas” in cities or towns that sold the broadsides from the mid - 1960s to 2013. Photos and short biographic entries of the poets, printers and publishers are a big part of the story. The lengthy second part of the book is comprised of the lists of the broadsides themselves (accordng to title by the author’s choice, author following when known), xeroxed copies of historic titles, and Curran’s library of secondary sources dealing with the collection.

English only. RURAL ODYSSEY III Dreams Fulfilled and Back to Abilene, A Fictional and Historical Narrative is the third in the series of fictionalized stories based on Mark Curran’s autobiography The Farm. Mike O’Brien and Mariah Palafox fulfill their dreams of graduate education, travel and research in Mexico, and return to Abilene where life offers new adventures.

[Enginsh Only] Portugal and Spain on the ‘International Adventurer’ is historical fiction and continues the travel adventures of Professor Mike Gaherty with IA “Assistant Adventurer Leader” Amy Carrier and a volatile cast of fictional adventurers traversing Portugal and Spain. One sees the best of these two off and on enemies and competitive nations - monuments, Literary Personages, food and wine, and “Pousadas” and “Paradores.” Travel, controversy and dangerous moments from post - Salazar and post - Franco days ensue.

[ENGLISH ONLY] Pre - Columbian Mexico - Plans, Pitfalls, and Perils is historical fiction and continues the adventures and escapades of Professor Mike Gaherty, this time along with colleague - girlfriend Amy Carrier, on a travel, research trip to Mexico. The goal is to scope out and research Mexico for a possible Adventure Travel expedition, its first all on land, and in partnership with New York Times Travel. Surprises come, unexpected opposition to foreign tourism and travel in Mexico. Mike and Amy are haunted by vestiges of Pre-Columbian gods, peoples and places.

ENGLISH ONLY Around Brazil on the “International Adventurer” – a Fictional Panegyric is the story of Professor Mike Gaherty in a new “gig” as Cultural Speaker for Adventure Travel’s small ship expedition around Brazil, a thirty-plus day trip from Manaus in the Amazon Basin to Rio Grande in the South with major stops in Belém do Pará, Recife, Salvador, Ilhéus, Rio de Janeiro and Parati. Adventurers will experience nature on the entire trip, birds, animals and plant life, but will be exposed to the history and culture of a good part of Brazil. The date is 1972 and the political undercurrent of Brazil’s Military Regime and its battle against Leftist Subversion affects the expedition. This however is the old, fun, colorful and entertaining Brazil of years past. Mike and his new colleagues of staff and crew of “Adventurer” mesh well, and there is time for an amorous relationship with Amy, the Assistant Adventure Leader on the ship. Surprises are in tow.

A RURAL ODYSSEY II- Abilene - Digging Deeper is the continuation of the story of Mick O’Brien, now a college graduate and back in his home town of Abilene, Kansas teaching at the new Junior College. He settles into daily life in Abilene and spends time with girlfriend Mariah Palafox a professor of English at the Juco. Family, friends, teaching, research and work on Mick’s “History of Abilene” take up most of his time. Mick and Mariah become close friends, then romantically involved. This leads to visits to her family and summer travel in Mexico and Spain, tips and hints aided by her relatives. Family ethnicity – Irish and Jewish – color the relationship. Life in Abilene gets dicey and dangerous with repercussions from previous problems with local criminals, then KKK activists and a return to violence and now larger threats to the citizens and town of Abilene.

[English Only] Letters from Brazil III is a continuation of Professor Mike Gaherty’s adventures in Brazil. It chronicles in fiction Mike’s initiation into the Portuguese-Brazilian academic world in the milieu of a major international “congress.”The academic affair is followed by Mike’s friendship and involvement with singer-composer Chico Buarque de Hollanda, the reporting for the New York Times of his songs jousting with Brazil’s “prior censorship” board, and Mike’s participation in one of Chico’s LP’s and successive concerts in Sao Paulo and Rio. The latter experience becomes dicey and dangerous with interference, surprising cooperation and then bad times with the military regime’s enforcement agency - the “Department of Public Security.” Mike, still a bachelor, is entertained and then becomes enmeshed in fun times turned complicated with beautiful “carioca” women.

A RURAL ODYSSEY - Living Can Be Dangerous is the story of Mick O’Brien’s growing up on a small wheat farm in Central Kansas in the 1940s and 1950s. It tells of his Irish-American, Catholic, pioneering farm parents, the religious and moral beliefs of that tradition and the consequences of living out the same. Mick and his siblings inherit that tradition. Growing food, farm chores, raising and caring of livestock, field work on the tractor, and harvest provide the family subsistence, but not without danger. School, sports, fun with buddies, and imaginary games fill Mick’s teen age years. Music, singing and the guitar, and a special friendship are an important chapter of that time with unplanned consequences. Unforeseen challenges and the unpredictable dangers of life fill the O’Brien’s days as well. Work and play, joy and sadness. Mick tells it all as it happened.

ENGLISH ONLY! Letters from Brazil II is a continuation of Letters from Brazil, 2017. Mike Gaherty, now an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, is back in Brazil to continue research and begin the battle for publication in a “publish or perish” academic world. He now has a Brazilian visa as journalist- researcher in his role of writing occasional “Letters” to the New York Times’s international section and is working in liaison with the Department of Research–Western Hemisphere Analysis of the US State Department (INR–WHA). “Letters” will chronicle what he sees and experiences in Brazil – politics, economics, and especially, daily life under the evolving military regime. The Brazilian intelligence agencies, the DOPS and the SNI, are aware of his role and keep constant surveillance on his activities. Life gets complicated as Mike juggles romantic interests both back at home and in Rio de Janeiro. And research evolves to treat the relationship between the folk-popular stories in verse (“literatura de cordel”) and MPB (Brazilian Popular Music), especially regarding the composer, singer, and musician Chico Buarque de Hollanda and his efforts to write and perform in Brazil while battling with the general’s censorship laws under AI-5. There are many surprises for Mike—some pleasurable, a few dangerous. Life for a researching professor turns out to be not as pedestrian as might be expected.

English Only! A Professor Takes to the Sea: Learning the Ropes on the National Geographic Explorer, Volume II, 2014 and 2016, continues Professor Curran’s experiences on board this great expedition ship. No longer a rookie but almost, Curran recounts early efforts to join the ship crew, staff, and guest speakers on a return trip from Salvador da Bahia to Buenos Aires in 2014 (with an Atlantic Crossing from the Cape Verde Republic thrown in) and the 2016 “Atlantic Odyssey 108” trip from Ushuaia, Patagonia, to Madeira with surprises in tow. Secondly, the book details Curran’s contributions of speaking of Brazilian and Portuguese culture and preparing the guests for the places to be seen in Brazil and Portugal’s Madeira. And as in volume I, it details the trip itself “At Sea” with the focus on educational talks by guest speakers and recaps by the naturalists and “On Shore” with cultural and historical vignettes of the places visited.

A Professor Takes to the Sea: Learning the Ropes on the National Geographic Explorer Volume I “Epic South America” 2013 tells of Professor Curran’s experiences on board this great expedition ship on the 2013 voyage. The book recounts early efforts to join with the ship crew, staff, and guest speakers in the collective task of providing an enriching experience for the guests or passengers. Secondly, it details Curran’s contribution of speaking of Brazilian culture and preparing the guests for the places to be seen in that country. Finally, it details the trip itself: “At Sea” with the focus on educational talks by guest speakers and recaps by the naturalists and “On Shore” with cultural and historical vignettes of the places visited.

This book is published in English only!

Letters from Brazil: A Cultural-Historical Narrative Made Fiction recounts the adventures of young researcher Mike Gaherty in Brazil in the turbulent 1960s. It tells the story of his research on Brazilian folklore and folk-popular literature (with inevitable amorous moments along the way) while dodging encounters and threats from agents of the DOPS, Brazil’s chief espionage and anti-communist, anti-subversion agency. The nation’s military revolution of 1964 and subsequent evolution to dictatorship are the background for Gaherty’s ups and downs in Brazil’s Northeast, the Northeast Interior, Salvador da Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília, the Amazon, and a final harrowing time in Recife.

Diário de um Pesquisador Norte – Americano no Brasil III é o último na série “Estórias que Contei aos Estudantes”. É a continuação do namoro e a odisseia do autor no Brasil, esta vez dos anos 1988 a 2005.

O volume traz ao dia os momentos no Brasil e tem muito mais o caráter de simples “diário de viagem”. Há ênfase na participação em congressos no Brasil, a publicação de trabalhos acadêmicos, e mais importante, a convivência com poetas, professores e pesquisadores da literatura brasileira, da literatura nordestina e literatura popular em verso.

Aconteceu no Brasil - Crônicas de um Pesquisador Norte - Americano no Brasil II é a continuação de um livro editado uns anos atrás: "Peripécias de um Pesquisador 'Gringo' no Brasil no Anos 1960". Continua o namoro e a odisseia do autor no Brasil de 1969 a 1985 (um terceiro volume trará tudo ao presente, isso daqui a uns anos).

O volume presente tratará varias estadas no Brasil, o autor já "Assistant Professor of Spanish and Portuguese" na Arizona State University. Os temas serão a pesquisa da literatura de cordel, congressos e momentos importantes com autores brasileiros, esforços para publicar obras no Brasil, viagens a partes novas do país e belos momentos de turismo com a esposa Keah.

“Relembrando – A Velha Literatura de Cordel e a Voz dos Poetas” realmente consiste em três estudos importantes sobre o cordel: 1. A revisão e tradução da tese doutoral de Curran de 1968 2. O aumento de um dos capítulos da tese tratando o poeta pioneiro, o mais conhecido de cordel, Leandro Gomes de Barros 3. A publicação de uma série de entrevistas escritas, já históricas, com quarenta dos poetas e editores de cordel do fim dos 1970.

The Universe of the "Literatura de Cordel" is Curran's most recent project. It is the English version of a major work published in Brazil in Portuguese in 2011 by Ateliê Editorial, "Retrato do Brasil em Cordel." Curran returns to "Portrait" for several reasons: primary is his strong feeling that the amazingly broad view of Brazil in the twentieth century seen in the thousands of booklets in verse from the "cordel" represents a major aspect of Brazilian culture in that century. Second, because there are many important bodies of folk-popular verse in the Western Tradition, all "distant relatives" of the Greek and Roman Epic Traditions, and because Brazil's folkpopular poetry is one among them, and because a very large reading public interested in such things does not know Portuguese, this volume in English strives to make the tradition available to such readers.

Este livro representa uma viagem fotográfica de 50 anos de pesquisa sobre o Brasil e sua poesia folclórica-popular, ou seja, a literatura de cordel. As fotos tiradas pelo autor através destes 50 anos se dividem em três partes: 1. Os poetas e editores do cordel. 2. Os intelectuais, informantes e amigos associados com a pesquisa. 3. As feiras, os mercados e cenários de folclore relacionados à pesquisa. Cada foto vem acompanhada de uma descrição breve em prosa sobre a imagem. Este arquivo inclui muitas pessoas e cenários que não existem mais no Brasil, assim documentando a realidade daqueles anos. O livro é um “companheiro” a outro – a estória completa dos poemas da literatura de cordel e seus autores vistos em “Portrait of Brazil in the Twentieth Century – the Universe of the ‘Literatura de Cordel’” (Trafford Publishing, 2013) ou a versão mais completa em Português, “Retrato do Brasil em Cordel” (Ateliê, São Paulo, 2011).

MARK CURRAN taught Spanish American Civilization at Arizona State University in a career spanning forty-three years. His Ph.D. in Spanish and Latin American Studies from Jesuit Saint Louis University prepared him for this endeavor. Intermittent study, travel and research in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico took place from 1962 to 2000 with emphasis on modern Indigenous centers and famous Pre-Columbian sites.

This book is entitled "Travel, Research and Teaching in Guatemala and Mexico. In Search of the Pre-Columbian Heritage." Volume II. Mexico.

"Travel and Teaching in Portugal and Spain – A Photographic Journey" is another in the series "Stories I Told My Students." It follows the pattern of previous books on Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, and Colombia. The book tells the tale of travel in Portugal and travel and summer teaching in the Arizona State University summer program in Spain in 1987.

The format of the book combines notes from the travel diary, vignettes on the history of the places visited, and in particular, notes on major literary figures like Luís de Camões or Miguel de Cervantes. Major universities like the University of Coimbra in Portugal and the University of Salamanca in Spain are highlighted. Emphasis is also given to places and fi gures of the Catholic tradition like the Cistercian Monastery of Alcobaça in Portugal and the stories of Santa Teresa de Jesús, San Juan de la Cruz, and Ignacio de Loyola in Spain. All are represented in the 256 photos in the book.

MARK CURRAN taught Spanish American Civilization at Arizona State University in a career spanning forty-three years. His Ph.D. in Spanish and Latin American Studies from Jesuit Saint Louis University prepared him for this endeavor. Intermittent study, travel and research in Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico took place from 1962 to 2000 with emphasis on modern Indigenous centers and famous Pre-Columbian sites.

This book is entitled "Travel, Research and Teaching in Guatemala and Mexico. In Search of the Pre-Columbian Heritage." Volume I, Guatemala.

São Paulo: Editora Ateliê. 2010.

Este livro é o mais recente do Professor Curran e o último como pesquisador e professor ativo na Arizona State University. Representa uma carreira inteira de pesquisa e escritos sobre o cordel.  O autor o vê como o esforço cumulativo de 45 anos de viagens de pesquisa ao Brasil e o pagamento de uma dívida para com os poetas, editores e público do Brasil pelo namoro que Curran teve e ainda tem com o Brasil, sua cultura e seu povo.  É também um pagamento de uma dívida aos mentores e amigos ganhos da convivência no Brasil desde 1966.  Em resumo, é a continuação do namoro sentido sempre para o Brasil. No livro Curran reconta a "estória" do cordel.  Porque ele acredita que o cordel é realmente uma epopéia folclórica-popular do  Brasil, o livro consta de dez capítulos ou álbums.  Cada qual é de tamanho grande, necesário para contar a estória de um corpus de talvez cem milhares de títulos diferentes do cordel.  Daí, o autor aconselha a paciência para o leitor: ler um álbum só durante cada tempo de leitura, mas persistir até o fim que realmente é o começo.  Os títulos dos álbums se derivam de aforismos ou ditos comúns da vida do dia a dia no Brasil:

Madrid: Editorial Orígenes, 1991, 211 pp.

Este livro foi encomendado pela Editorial Orígenes em Madrid com o propósito de fazer disponível a tradição cordeliana em um texto bilingüe a leitores na Espanha.  O dono da Orígenes foi ciente da relação entre a tradição de poesia folclórica-popular na Espanha --  e o romanceiro espanhol, e seu descendente a poesia gaúcha e gauchesca na Argentina, os corridos no México e o cordel do Brasil.  O livro consiste em um capítulo introdutório ao cordel em espanhol e uma antologia de quartorze folhetos ou romances bem conhecidos do cordel, estes entre os mais famosos e mais indicativ0s do "universo vasto do cordel".  O texto de cada poema aparece em duas colunas: o original brasileiro em português à esquerda, a tradução coloquial espanhola à direita.  Cada folheto ou romance tem uma introdução em espanhol que explica o tipo temático da estória em verso.  Depois de ler este livro, o leitor terá uma idéia excelente de o que é e como é o cordel.

Salvador:FundaçãoCasa de Jorge Amado  -- Fundação Casade Rui Barbosa, 1981, 95 pp.

Esta monografia foi publicada na ocasião da celebração de 50 Anos de Literatura de Jorge Amado em Salvador da Bahia em 1981. Devido ao fato que a publicação foi parte da celebração amadiana coberta pela televisão regional, nacional e até internacional, e revistas nacionais brasileiras, e pelo escritor (hoje em dia Nobel) peruano Mário Vargas Llosa, Jorge Amado apareceu na noite de autógrafos e "Isto É" incluiu um artigo sobre Curran e o livro no número daquela semana.  O autor não se ilude em pensar que tudo se deu devido a ele ou seu livrinho – foi o grande e feliz momento dos 50 Anos de Jorge m que trouxe tudo.

O livro é realmente modesto em tamanho e especializado em quanto ao tema, mas de certo valor para o leitor que gosta de ler Jorge Amado e reconhece seu rol na ficção brasileira e quer ver somente uma entre outras pequenas facetas de sua técnica novelística.  A tese do livro se deriva da própria declaração de Amado de que seus romances, em grande parte, têm uma dívida grande para com o povo e a cultura folclórica-popular da Bahia, e da qual, ele, Jorge Amado, é mesmo, um "contador de histórias" ouvidas do povo.

São Paulo: Editora da Universidade de São Paulo, 1998, 283 pp.

Este livro do Professor Curran entra em um novo caminho dos outros.  Sua tese é que os folhetos de acontecimentos do dia da literatura em cordel na sua totalidade são uma fonte válida, importante alternativa para o estudo da História Brasileira do século XX.  Não é que SEJAM História, mas é que têm valor para o historiador profissional como uma entre várias fontes a escrever História.  Esta idéia se baséia no livro seminal de Pedro Calmon: "História do Brasil na Poesia do Povo" (1929) e uma leitura dos livros clássicos por E. Bradford Burns e Thomas Skidmore sobre a história brasileira.  O livro foi comentado em "Veja" e vários suplementos literários em São Paulo e Brasília.

Salvador da Bahia: Fundação Casa de Jorge Amado, 1990, 197 pp.  Prefácio por Jorge Amado.

Parte I trata "Cuíca o homem, o poeta, o repórter popular" e se baséia em entrevistas, artigos de jornais e revistas e as próprias declarações do poeta vistas nos seus poemas de literatura de cordel. Parte II é uma antologia de seleções do cordel documental de Cuíca sobre a Bahia e a nação.  Cuíca é o lado oposto da moeda de seu conterrâneo, competidor e contemporário, Rodolfo Coelho Cavalcante.  Cuíca é o "Boca de Inferno" popular do cordel bahiano de 1940 a 1964.  É uma espécie de Gregório de Matos popular, semi-letrado, homem das massas.  Escreveu sátiras virulentas sobre o escândalo local, as quais trazendo-lhe só encrencas, e, somente pelo apoio de amigos com "pistolão" político e até do Presidente Getúlio Vargas se livrou das mesmas, e mesmo assim, não sempre.

São Paulo: Hedra, 2000. Introduction and organization by Mark J. Curran

Este livro foi encomendado ao Professor Curran pela Editora Hedra de São Paulo, uma introdução ao poeta de cordel Cuíca de Santo Amaro e uma seleta de seus folhetos de cordel, um livro entre muitos na série cordeliana da editora.

Cuíca de Santo Amaro, o "Boca de Inferno" folclórico-popular de Salvador da Bahia, um nome ganho por virtude de seus folhetos de cordel escritos durante trinta anos, dos 1940 até meiados dos 1960 e sua morte em 1964, documentou da maneira mais completa a vida diária na cidade de Salvador da Bahia dos Santos.  Escreveu dos tempos difíceis para os pobres, os costumes e mores sociais, os crimes, os desastres naturais, e talvez mais importante, os escândalos da vida particular e pública na Bahia.  Além disso, Cuíca documentou o momento politico no Brasil.  Era conhecido como um artesão "pobre" na criação do verso nos seus folhetos, mas, foi um poeta-repórter sem par.

Este livro sobre o poeta e editor talvez mais visível do cordel moderno, Rodolfo Coelho Cavalcante, alagoano mas residente há anos de Salvador da Bahia, é simultâneamente biografia, antologia e análise da produção e carreira de quase 50 anos de cordel do  autor.  Mas, é ainda mais porque através do papel de RCC como propagandista  dos poetas e da poesia do cordel desde 1955, o leitor, em efeito, vê a evolução do mesmo durante a metade de sua existência no Brasil.

Recife: Universdade Federal de Pernambuco, 1973, 91 pp.

Esta monografia representa una parte  da tese para o Ph.D. do Professor Curran.  Foi o primeiro livro publicado por um estudioso do extrangeiro sobre o cordel do Nordeste do Brasil e o primeiro a utilizar o termo “literatura de cordel” como título.  O livro representa estudo e pesquisa de campo no Brasil em 1966-1967. O primeiro capítulo é uma descrição e explicação do cordel, dando ênfase à informação sobre os poetas, seu método de cantar ou declamar seus poemas na feira ou na praça do mercado e sua rede de vendas e distribuição dos folhetos e romances.

A Poesia Folclórica - Popular Do Brasil – A Literatura De Cordel
Uma Antologia Bilingüe em Inglês e Português

Esta antologia dos folhetos e romances do cordel existe principalmente para o público de fala inglês. O autor não conhece outro livro igual, isso é, em inglês e português. Introduz a literatura de cordel a este público novo em uma introdução informativa em inglês. Os poemas mesmos são em inglês e português. A antologia tem como inspiração outro livro de Curran, “Retrato do Brasil em Cordel,” pela Ateliê Editorial em São Paulo, 2011. Vê o cordel como uma epopeia popular brasileira e assim dá uma amostra de dez histórias.

"Coming of Age with the Jesuits" chronicles a young man's formative years from 1959 to 1968 studying on the undergraduate level at Rockhurst College in Kansas City, Missouri, and for the Ph.D. at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. Between junior and senior year Curran had his first educational experience in Latin America studying at the National University of Mexico and traveling to Guatemala. This would lead to an increase in his love of languages and area studies and a future teaching career committed to the same at Arizona State University. The book is not an academic treatise on the Jesuits or their method of study, the "Ratio Studiorum," but rather a chronicle of the experiences in their schools by a young man introduced to Jesuit ways and discipline followed by serious study along with college fun and travel. Students from the 1960s will surely recall, relate to and enjoy similar moments in their own days with the Jesuits. The book chronicles as well the on-going process of growing up of a small town farm boy experiencing the big city, college, foreign travel and the next step of serious study with more precise career goals on the graduate level.

“Peripécias de um Pesquisador ‘Gringo’ no Brasil nos Anos 1960 Ou À Cata do Cordel” é um relato divertido e informativo da primeira estada do Curran no Brasil. Neste livro o autor conta duas estórias: a pesquisa sobre o cordel, e, talvez mais importante, as viagens e as peripécias daquele primeiro ano no Brasil. Os dois relatos são inseparáveis e se complementam. Os capítulos incluem: Recife e o Nordeste, Viagens ao Interior do Nordeste, Pesquisa na Capital Colonial do Brasil – Salvador da Bahia, Pesquisa e Turismo no Rio de Janeiro, Viagens ao Interior desde o Rio de Janeiro, incluindo Ouro Preto, Congonhas do Campo, Brasília, e uma viagem memorável em um “gaiola”, ou seja, vapor de roda, no Rio São Francisco em Minas Gerais e a Bahia, e, finalmente, pesquisa na Bacia Amazônica, incluindo Belém e Manaus. O relato não está em linguagem acadêmica, mas, em um estilo coloquial de conversa. Curran escreve como se estivesse fazendo um bate-papo com o leitor relatando estórias de suas viagens, e talvez, com o autor e o leitor gozando uma caipirinha ou um bom choppe enquanto o autor conta suas estórias.

This book combines anecdotes of travel with commentary on the Spanish Colonial Heritage of Colombia. The travel took place in 1975 on a sabbatical leave when Curran and traveling companion, his wife Keah, spent several months in Colombia. The chapters follow chronological time, places and events of the trip: Medellín and Santa Fé de Antioquia; Bogotá and environs; Girardot, Cali, Popayán and Silvia in the West and South; the Archeological Site of San Agustín; Boyacá State as seen in Tunja, Villa de Leiva and other smaller towns; Cartagena de Indias, and finally, Isla San Andés, the “Microcosm of the Caribbean.” The book delineates important aspects of the colonial heritage: religious, residential and military, of four centuries of colonial and national life. It also emphasizes colorful and at times humorous vignettes of travel and comments on local life and events. The tale is told in an informal way, Curran relating all as if in a conversation with the reader. The book is richly illustrated with images from the travels.