Noite na Taverna

Noite na Taverna (in English: A Night in the Tavern) is a short story collection written by Brazilian Ultra-Romantic author Álvares de Azevedo under the pen name Job Stern. It was published posthumously, in 1855; three years after Azevedo's death. The book is structured as a frame story containing five tales (as well as a prologue and an epilogue, thus totaling seven chapters) told by a group of five men sheltering in a tavern. It is one of the most popular and influential works of Gothic fiction in Brazilian literature.

It is said that the book was largely inspired by Spanish author José Cadalso's 1790 work Noches lúgubres.

The first chapter of the book, "Uma Noite do Século" ("A Night of the Century"), introduces its setting – a tavern in an undisclosed location filled with prostitutes, drunkards and libertines. At a nearby table, influenced by the alcohol, a group of five friends – Solfieri, Bertram, Gennaro, Claudius Hermann and Johann – decide to share with each other certain events of their lives. The five tales have, in common, aspects such as unsuccessful love stories, cannibalism, murders, sexual violence, heavy drinking, among others.

When in Rome, on a rainy night, Solfieri sees a shadow crying over a window. He realizes it is a beautiful woman. She leaves the house and Solfieri decides to follow her, and they ultimately arrive at a nearby cemetery. There, the woman cries, kneeling before a headstone, as Solfieri falls asleep watching her from afar.

One year later, Solfieri, wandering the streets of Rome after taking part in an orgy, ends into a church inadvertently. He sees a coffin and, after listening to breathing noises inside, opens it, and sees the cemetery lady he met the year before inside it. After realizing that she is still alive (but in a catalepsic state), he carries her through the city. Arriving at his home, the woman dies two days later, of a very high fever. Solfieri buries her under the floorboards of his bedroom and pays a sculptor for a statuette built in the woman's likeness.

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