Noite (''Night'') is a novel written by Brazilian writer

Érico Veríssimo Érico Lopes Verissimo (December 17, 1905 – November 28, 1975) was an important Brazilian writer, born in the State of Rio Grande do Sul. Biography Érico Verissimo was the son of Sebastião Verissimo da Fonseca and Abegahy Lopes Verissimo. Hi ...

in 1954.

Plot summary

In the 1950s, a man finds himself in the middle of the streets of

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

with a wallet full of money... and no memory of any past events. He finds two "vultures of the night", enigmatic noctivague figures with a high penchant for

bohemian Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a ...

lifestyles. The "vultures" (called The Master and The Hunchback) take the man on a surrealistic journey through the darkest places of the city, to "enjoy the night": a funeral parlor, the emergency service of a hospital, a deluxe

whorehouse A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe t ...

and a low-level working class

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...

. At the same time, the two enigmatic figures surreptitiously try to make the man-with-no-memory assume that he committed a horrendous crime early that night, in which a woman was the subject of a brutal passion-related crime and no perpetrator was yet arrested by the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

. The book has a unique atmosphere in depicting the low-level bohemy that crowded some places in the Brazilian urban legends. In the 1980s, Brazilian film director

José Louzeiro José de Jesus Louzeiro (September 19, 1932 – December 29, 2017) was a Brazilian novelist, screenwriter and reporter. Louzeiro was born in São Luís. He started working in 1948 as an intern at the newspaper ''O Imparcial''. In 1953, when he w ...

conducted a movie loosely based on the book.

References

1954 Brazilian novels Novels set in Porto Alegre Brazilian novels adapted into films {{Brazil-lit-stub