QUEIROZ, RACHEL DE

born Nov. 17, 1910, Fortaleza, Brazil Brazilian novelist and member of a group of writers known for their novels of social criticism, sometimes called the Northeastern school (for the region of Brazil that is often the setting of their works). Queiroz was reared on a ranch in the semiarid backlands of Cear state in northeastern Brazil. Her works describe the shock of periodic droughts, bandits, backland mystics, and forgotten men of her native state. Her first book, O quinze (1930; The Year '15), was a freshly conceived genre novel dealing with families forced to abandon their homes in the drought of 1915; it shows special sympathy for the role of women in this semifeudal society. Joo Miguel (1932) is about a poor mestizo who wakes up in jail to learn he has killed a wretch as unfortunate as himself in a drunken brawl. Her third novel, Caminho de pedras (1937; Rocky Road), is the story of a woman rejecting her traditional role and embracing a new sense of independence. As trs Marias (1939; The Three Marias), which follows the lives of three girlhood friends from their meeting in a convent school to adulthood, exposes both the inadequate educational system and the limited role allowed to women in Brazilian society. Queiroz also wrote two plays, Lampio (1953), about the actions of a legendary bandit and a woman who abandons her old life to follow him, and A Beata Maria do Egito (1958; Blessed Mary of Egypt), which updates the legend of the martyr Saint Maria Egipciaca, setting the action in a small Brazilian backland town. Queiroz acquired a mass audience for her brief journalistic essays on subjects of general interest, published in collections including O Brasileiro perplexo (1963). She also was instrumental in establishing the crnica (short prose) form, and several books of her crnicas have been published. Her O caador de tatu (1967; The Armadillo Hunter) is a selection of chronicles of her life from the mid-1950s. In 1964 Queiroz was Brazil's representative to the United Nations. Her novel Dra, Doralina was published in 1975. In 1977 Queiroz became the first woman to be elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters.