A few years ago Monteiro Lobato, the author of “The Patchwork Quilt,” had nointention of becoming a writer. One day he wrote a letter from his plantationnear Sao Paulo to a newspaper of the city, protesting against the prevailing cus- tom of clearing stubble fields by fire. The letter showed such marked literaryability that it was featured on the front page. Since then he has become oneof the most important figures in Brazilian literature. He reacted very stronglyagainst the dominant French influence, and has taken his inspiration, his char- acters and his style from his native country. He is only thirty-eight years old:besides being the author of several novels and collections of short stories, heis the editor of one of Brazil's most important magazines, “Revista do Brasil,”
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