protagonists who were born and lived their youth in the sertão, a Brazilian region where Américo was born and raised, notorious for the poverty of its population and for its semi-arid environment. In the novel Holocausto, Américo's hometown, which serves as the setting for the plot, is vividly described in its geographical details and urban profile. As the protagonists are sensitive young people, they are inclined towards the arts, but for that very reason they suffer more intensely in the face of misfortunes. They fall in love with equally virtuous and intellectual girls, but their love is also opposed by treacherous and evil people. In general, these pure young people live martyred, victims of their own innate nobility and sophistication, etiolated in a barbaric and rude environment. The result is often tragic. The plots are not limited to fiction, delving into social, political and cultural issues present in their time. In the introduction to Holocausto, a "philosophical novel of character and customs", the best known of his novels, appreciated by Joaquim Nabuco, Giulio Piccini and other intellectuals from Brazil and Europe, Américo presents the didactic intention: However, right at the beginning of the novel, the gypsy character Rhadamina makes a dismal prediction for the protagonist, Agavino, which serves as the structuring axis of the entire narrative — all the gypsy's predictions are confirmed — and allows the reader to capture something of the oppressive psychological atmosphere which is very present in the text, as well as analyzing Américo's writing style: In Na Cidade Eterna, the desolate lament of Heitor de Montalvano, its tragic hero, a solitary man "with a torn soul", but pure and upright, who struggled ingloriously against politics, "the monster without entrails", essentially repeats the same theme: Critical reception The artist, politics and history A charismatic and controversial figure, Américo had a unique intellectual preparation among Brazilian artists of his time, and he had a high opinion of himself and his achievements. He was "deified, fought, loved and rejected", as Gonzaga Duque had said. Américo produced a complex and eclectic work, was involved in major controversies throughout his career and made countless friends and detractors both in life and posthumously. In 1871, when Américo was less than 30 years old, his first biography appeared, written by Luís Guimarães Júnior, a laudatory and dramatic propaganda piece symptomatically entitled Um Milionário de Glórias, which was distributed throughout Brazil and also