Little monster and frivolous: childhood and teenage years of Mário Peixoto

Abstract

The childhood and teenage years of the film director and writer Mário Peixoto (1908-1992) are little known. Because of that, the commented presentation of some parts of his unpublished journal “Cadernos verdes” concerning these moments of his life has the important role of presenting his coming of age for other researchers. There are two parts. One is concerned with his childhood basically connected with his house at Rio de Janeiro. It is a lonely experience inside a traditional and decadent family made up of silent people. The second part, consisting mainly by the letters of his cousin Genoca, is an opened world between Rio de Janeiro and Petrópolis full of visits, parties and gossips about relatives and friends.