Cazuá

Luiz Antonio Simas' partner, Luiz Rufino, debuts at Paz & Terra with a book that invites us to reimagine Brazil, in a dimension that goes beyond the home and the street: enchantment.

In the delightful texts of Cazuá: where enchantment takes up residence , Luiz Rufino introduces us to a Brazil (or Brazils) far beyond what we know from history books. The author of Pedagogies of the Crossroads reminds us that, in the ancestral memory forged in the soil of a deep Brazil, the cazuá is where life nestles as wonder, celebration, struggle, mystery, and devotion.

This book contains children who wander with saints, scoundrels who mingle with workers, flowers that intersect with knives, plants that converse with people, fields that intertwine with forests, backyards, street corners, and yards. Because in these spaces of conviviality and intimacy, which are also precious environments for the invention of worlds, the stories of each individual and of our people, from this and other planes, coexist. After all, the power of things lies not only in what appears to be and is reduced to what they call materiality.

Beauty happens when one thing takes up residence in another; plants, stones, rivers, animals, food, drums, and people—all can be a dwelling place of enchantment. Thus, this book is a simple Brazilian altar. And, for those who chant its words or carry it in their purse or under their arm, it can also be a talisman.