Evandro Affonso Ferreira's "Billie Holiday " tells the story of Diadorino, a young man born amid the brutality of the backlands, who dreams of becoming Diadorina, "a beautiful, warlike, feminine, and feminist woman." Thus, the book draws on literary references and avant-garde women of all times to create a poetic and utterly original narrative, a hallmark of the author.
Young Diadorino, the central character of "Once in a While, Billie Holiday ," is huddled under the table, terrified. Born into the brutality of the backlands, he suffers from the constant beatings administered by the colonel who raised him, infuriated by the delicate features of his mother, and therefore those of a woman.
The story's narrator is the only person who understands Diadorino's plight. She knows his main desire: to transition to female. In various ways, the narrating voice encourages him to come out of hiding and follow his will. First, it promises him the protection and safety generated by the conversation they are having—which is the book itself: "Come, come here, into the protective pages of this book, shelter [...] come, no gunman will enter here."
She also resorts to tailor-made stories to pull Diadorino out of his paralysis. In these cases, a whole host of characters from Guimarães Rosa's fictional universe are mobilized to force him to move, going far beyond the simple coincidence of his name with that of the character from Grande sertão: veredas .
Finally, the narrator praises other women, great feminists and libertarians of all time: artists, activists, and thinkers—like Billie Holiday, Angela Davis, and many others. Among them, a quintet stands out: Simone de Beauvoir, Rosa Luxemburg, Hannah Arendt, Edith Stein, and Anna Akhmatova. To become a sextet, Diadorina is missing. The narrator encourages the young man to make the transition: "Come complete this new feminine, feminist, socialist, and spiritualist sextet [...]."
And perhaps jazz is indeed a good shortcut to understanding Evandro Afonso Ferreira's unique style, his distinctive diction, and the importance he places on the sonority of phrasing. His words form a highly technical improvisation, with themes and variations following one another, and the notes, or syllables, linking together, echoing one another. At times, Billie Holiday is, therefore, like a saxophone solo: beautiful, unpredictable, and full of invention.
