Antes Das Primeiras Estórias (a nod to Rosa’s 1962 collection of short stories) is a small collection of four short stories written by a very young, twenty-one-year-old João Guimarães Rosa. First published in the popular Brazilian magazine, O Cruzeiro, in 1929 and 1930, the short stories were each the winner of a monthly contest which guaranteed, as first place prize, publication with illustrations by famous artists of the time. This collection gathers the stories for the very first time.
In regard to the rare book’s launch, Nova Fronteira Editor, and organizer of the book, Janaína Senna, had this to say:
“It’s our intention to pique the curiosity of those who love literature. This is a nice collection [but] whoever reads the stories will find a writer in formation. It’s not the Rosa people have come to love, but rather, it’s someone who writes well, and yet is still looking for a narrative voice.” She goes on: “The stories are so peculiar, we decided not to invite a specialist to write a critical introduction, in case they didn’t have anything to say about the style of the young author who looks more like Edgar Allen Poe than Rosa at his height.”
On The Devil To Pay In The Backlands, or Grande Sertão: Veredas 