About Lima Barreto
Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto (1881–1922) was a Brazilian novelist and journalist from Rio de Janeiro. He worked as a clerk at the Ministry of War while writing novels such as Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha (1909) and Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma (1915), and hundreds of crônicas for Rio newspapers and magazines that criticized racism, pretension and the politics of the early Republic.
Works by Lima Barreto
1 essay to practice
Lima Barreto’s writing style
Lima Barreto writes in an unadorned, conversational Portuguese and is openly suspicious of fine style. His crônicas start from a news item or something he saw in the city and turn it, with sarcasm, against official pomp and social prejudice.
How to write like Lima Barreto
Pick one of Lima Barreto’s essays and retype it word for word. Copying slows you down enough to notice how each sentence is built: where it starts, how long it runs and which words carry the weight. Keep the style notes above in mind as you type, then write a paragraph of your own in the same voice. New to this? Read what copywork is and how to do it.