Marcelo Gama

Marcelo Gama (Mostardas RS, 1878 - Rio de Janeiro RJ, 1915) completed only primary studies in Cachoeira do Sul RS, in 1875. Between 1898 and 1900, he founded the newspaper Artes e Letras in Porto Alegre, and the magazine Lua in Cachoeira do Sul. In 1899, his play A Peste Bubônica, co-authored with Zéferino Brasil, premiered in the Gaucho capital, staged by Companhia Silva Pinto. He published chronicles about O Salão de Artes Estadual in the newspaper Correio do Povo in 1901. The following year, his first book of poetry, Via Sacra, with a Symbolist aesthetic, was released. Also in 1902, the monologue O Sonho and the play O Sol-à-Mão, written in partnership with Zéferino Brasil, premiered. In 1903, his poems Versos de um Coração and Ode à Morte were published in the Almanaque Literário Estatístico do Rio Grande do Sul. In the 1910s, he also published Avatar (1904) and Noite de Insônia (1907). In 1944, the posthumous book Via Sacra e Outros Poemas was released. According to critic Regina Zilberman, "the inauguration of the Symbolist aesthetic in the South is attributed to Marcelo Gama, author of Via Sacra, from 1902.".