Iracema

Iracema, the honey lips: a legend of Brasil

Statue in honor of Iracema in Fortaleza
Author	José de Alencar
Original title	Iracema Iracema - A Lenda do Ceará
Translator	Lady Isabel Burton
Country	Brazil
Language	Portuguese
Series	Alencar's indigenist novels
Genre	Romance novel
Publisher	B. L. Garnier
Publication date	1865
Published in English	1886
ISBN	(English)
Preceded by	O Guarany
Followed by	Ubirajara

Iracema (in portuguese: Iracema - A Lenda do Ceará) is one of the three indigenous novels by José de Alencar. It was first published in 1865. The novel has been adapted into films twice in 1917 as a silent film and in 1949 as a sound film.

The story revolves around the relationship between the Tabajara indigenous woman, Iracema, and the Portuguese colonist, Martim, who was allied with the Tabajara nation's enemies, the Pitiguaras.

Through the novel, Alencar tries to remake the history of the Brazilian colonial state of Ceará, with Moacir, the son of Iracema and Martim, as the first true Brazilian in Ceará. This pure Brazilian is born from the love of the natural, innocence (Iracema), culture and knowledge (Martim), and also represents the mixture (miscegenation) of the native race with the European race to produce a new (Brazilian) race.

Iracema is Guarani language for honey-lips, from ira - honey, and tembe - lips. Tembe changed to ceme, as in the word ceme iba, according to the author.

"Iracema" is also an anagram of "America", appointed by critics as befitting the allegorization of colonization of America by Europeans, the novel's main theme.

Iracema, along with the novels O Guarani and Ubirajara, portrays one of the stages of the formation of the Brazilian ethnic and cultural heritage. Iracema symbolizes the initial meeting between the white man (Europeans) and the natives. "Moacir" means "Son of Pain", which is related to his birth, alone with his mother who was abandoned by Martim for some time when he had to go and help the Potiguaras in a tribal war against the Tabajaras.