Mark J Curran

O Livro da Gratid o Encontros Folcloristas, Escritores e Professores is Curran's tribute and thanks to the folklorists, writers and professors who guided him in research, writing and publication in Brazil from 1966 to 2005. Excerpts from past publications in Brazil recall each of some thirty-eight personages from those years. Whenever possible the author's photos or photos from the internet accompany the name and text of each personage. A sampling of individuals is Ariano Suassuna, Jorge Amado, Raquel de Queir z, Or genes Lessa and Carlos Cunha among the writers, Lu s da C mara Cascudo, Sebasti o Nunes Batista, Vicente Salles and Josph Luyten among the folklorists, and Thiers Martins Moreira, Adriano da Gama Kury and Edilene Matos among other professors.

"THE SCAMP ODYSSEY" is the first in a new series by the author telling of annual trailer trips from 2004 to 2022. The title is inspired by "The Motorcycle Diary." In Part I the author details travel from Vallecito Lake, Colorado, to Backus Minnesota and return, a 4000-mile trip. He details places passed and visited with commentary on the local history - towns of the San Luis Valley in Colorado, Walsenburg, La Junta and Lamar in Colorado, then across Kansas. Syracuse, Johnson and farm country, Ulysses, the Mennonite heritage country in Kansas, and his hometown Abilene, are followed by the Kansas Flint Hills, Marysville and its trails west. Wildlife Refuges in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota follow reflecting the author and his wife's interest in birding. The main character of the book, the Scamp Trailer, follows from its factory in Backus, a test run to Duluth and the north shore of Lake Superior, the Gran Portage, Wolves at Ely, across farmland of South Dakota, Pierre and the Missouri River, and finally Laramie, Rocky Mountain National Park and "home" to Vallecito. Part II, a return to the plains of Kansas and Nebraska in 2011 follows. Trains, Planes and the Scamp.

"TRAVEL MADE FICTION SOUTH AMERICA BY AIR" is the seventh book in Mark Curran's "Adventure Travel" series. It combines real life history, culture and tourism with an at times humorous fictional account of travelers and staff of AT on the trip. There are ten parts, like the Greek Epic. Travel is to Peru, Buenos Aires, Uruguay, Iguacu, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador da Bahia, Manaus, Bogota, Cartagena de Indias and Isla San Andres in the Caribbean. Mike and Amy Gaherty, now married, lead the way with logistics and cultural introductions to the travels. In its totality, the book indeed is an epic of travel with highlights of places and peoples of South America. Richly illustrated with the author's photos, it could also be a coffee table book with vivid color images. The book harks back to travel over 50 years to Latin America and Curran's classes teaching about it.

FIVE "ROMANCES" OF "CORDEL" is a return to a long - time research topic, but now to the very beginnings of Brazil's "literatura popular em verso" or "literatura de cordel." The early "romances" or "historias" of "cordel" began as narrative poetry telling a story based on popular literature from Portugal, Spain and France. The stories from Europe were in prose and were sold by the Livreiro Garnier in Rio de Janeiro at the end of the 19th century. Poets like Leandro Gomes de Barros, Joao Melchiades Ferreira da Silva, Jose' Camelo de Melo Resende, Marcos Sampaio and others converted the prose stories to verse. This author has chosen five of the most famous and placed the Portuguese originals alongside his own English translations along with notes, commentary and asides. A Labor of Love. Enjoy.

RURAL ODYSSEY VI Abilene - Trail Mix combines fiction and history. It tells of Mike O'Reilly, his wife Mariah Palafox O'Reilly and daughter Ariel's return to Abilene, Kansas for a one - year stay. Mike and Mariah hold adjunct positions at DDEC, Dwight D. Eisenhower College, where Mike taught since 1963 and Mariah in the 1970s. Daughter Ariel returns to the town and schoolmates where she grew up. Mike's research on a new book at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library is followed by fieldwork tracing the famous cow towns of the Chisholm Trail and major frontier trails west - the Smoky Hill River Trail from Kansas to Colorado and the all-important Santa Fe Trail from Kansas to New Mexico. The latter connects with the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Trail from Mexico City to Santa Fe. Research and life in Abilene are mixed as well, the latter with some surprises.

Mark Curran is a retired professor from Arizona State University where he worked from 1968 to 2011. He taught Spanish and Portuguese and their respective cultures. His research specialty was Brazil and its "popular literature in verse" or the "Literatura de Cordel," and he has published many articles in research reviews and now some fourteen books related to the "Cordel" in Brazil, the United States and Spain. Other books done during retirement are of either an autobiographic nature - "The Farm" or "Coming of Age with the Jesuits" - or reflect classes taught at ASU on Luso-Brazilian Civilization, Latin American Civilization or Spanish Civilization. The latter are in the series "Stories I Told My Students: " books on Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Portugal and Spain. "Letters from Brazil I, II, III, IV and V" is an experiment combining reporting and fiction. "A Professor Takes to the Sea I and II" is a chronicle of a retirement adventure with Lindblad Expeditions - National Geographic Explorer. "Rural Odyssey - Living Can Be Dangerous" is "The Farm" largely made fiction. "A Rural Odyssey II - Abilene - Digging Deeper" and "Rural Odyssey III Dreams Fulfilled and Back to Abilene" are a continuation of "Rural Odyssey." "Around Brazil on the 'International Traveler' - A Fictional Panegyric" tells of an expedition in better and happier times in Brazil, but now in fiction. The author presents a continued expedition in fiction "Pre - Columbian Mexico - Plans, Pitfalls and Perils." Yet another is "Portugal and Spain on the 'International Adventurer.'" "The Collection" is a bibliography of primary and secondary works on the "Literatura de Cordel" in Curran's collection. 180 "The Master of the "Literatura de Cordel" - Leandro Gomes de Barros. A Bilingual Anthology of Selected Works" is a return to the topic of the Dissertation in 1968. "Adventure Travel" in Guatemala - The Maya Heritage" is a return to the A.T. series, the 4th preceded by books on Brazil, Mexico, Portugal and Spain. "Two By Mark J. Curran" combines two shorter narratives on the author's life, "ASU Days" and "The Guitars - A Music Odyssey." "Rural Odyssey IV - Parallels. Abilene, Cowboys and "Cordel" is cultural, historic fiction in the Rural Odyssey Series. "The Writing and Publishing Journey" is a capstone volume and catalogue of all of Curran's books to the present with color images of all the covers and short summaries of the genesis of the books. "Adventure Travel" in Colombia - Moments of Mayhem continues the Adventure Travel Series. And now, "Adventure Travel" - A New Partnership - The Royal Princess. "Rural Odyssey V" Trouble in a Kansas Riverside Town With "The Ballad of the Smoky Hill River Rambler" is the newest in the series. And in 2024 "Brazil's 'Literatura de Cordel' - The Broadside Engravings of Mexico's Jos Guadalupe Posada" KDP Publishing.

"ADVENTURE TRAVEL" - A NEW PARTNERSHIP The Royal Princess is a return to the author's "Adventure Travel" series, now the 6th. It is based on real travel but made fiction. Professor Mike Gaherty and Assistant Expedition Leader Amy Carrier, long time friends and collegues and some time lovers, reconnect in a new venture for AT - a Partnership with Princess Lines. AT in effect will add to the passenger list of an itinerary already planned by Princess for Fall, 1989. "The Mediterranean - A Voyage into History" is ambitious with stops in ten destinations. The author has chosen to follow the Greek and Roman Classic Epics in his plan for the book - 10 Chapters or "Cantos." 1. Rome 2. Venice 3. Dubrovnik 4. Crete and Heraklion 5. Ephesus 6. Istanbul 7. Yalta and Odessa 8. The Bosporos and on Board the Royal Princess 9. The Greek Cyclades - Delos and Mykonos 10. Anthens and Sounion. The book aims to inform and entertain, in effect, to introduce the reader to the basics of history and culture of a significant part of Western Civilization and have fun at the same time.

RURAL ODYSSEY V - TROUBLE IN A KANSAS RIVER TOWN is a return to fiction. It tells the latest in Curran's stories of Abilene, Kansas. Trouble comes to Abilene in an unexpected armed attack on the town and its residents in 1971 by KKK and "rugged individualists" out for revenge for the conviction and imprisonment in Abilene of their relatives and cronies in past years. Following the "troubles," the author writes of protagonists Mike and Mariah's teaching at the Dwight D. Eisenhower College in Abilene, the birth of their daughter Ariel Sarah O'Brien Palafox, and the Palafox family's travel to Spain. With the passage of time and events in Abilene, Mike and Marah make a life changing move back east and work and teaching at Harvard. Book Two - a Novella - Ballad of the "Smoky Hill River Rambler" tells the story of Abilene's Mickey Clancy's dream of performing (singing and playing guiitar, including classical guitar) in the restaurants and bars in Durango and other towns of Southwest Colorado. As his music evolves and the repertoire grows, he encounters romance and surprises, not always pleasant, as an itinerant musician.

"The Writing and Publishing Journey" is a summary and catalogue of all of Professor Curran's writings. It includes the academic books before retirement, the academic and cultural books during retirement, the experiments with fiction based on the former, and a brief addendum of academic articles in research journals. Each volume is introduced by the cover image in full color. The abiding objective is to recall in a conversational way the when, why and how of each book, that is, when it was written, the circumstances of how and why it was written, and perhaps most interesting the odyssey of getting it into print. Any professor in Academia will relate to this endeavor, and amateur writers and interested readers should enjoy the journey as well.

"RURAL ODYSSEY IV - PARALLELS Abilene - Cowboys - "Cordel" is a return to the "Rural Odyssey" series, a narrative in fiction telling of Professor Mike O'Brien's work on a "History of Abilene," life with his young wife, Professor Mariah Palafox O'Brien, and their jobs at DDEC (Dwight D. Eisenhower College) in Abilene. After telling of his "History of Abilene," the book recounts Mike and Mariah's trip to Brazil in the summer of 1971 via Fulbright Lecture Grants. Mike gives talks on Eisenhower, Abilene and the Cowboy days, cowboys and "cordel," and Mariah lectures on American Literature. "The Great Gatsby," "The Sound and the Fury," and "To Kill a Mockingbird" are a few highlights. They meet important military, literary, and folkloric figures in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Bahia and Recife and visit Brazil's famous tourist and cultural sites as well. Mike's Catholic and Mariah's Jewish heritages come into play.

TWO BY MARK J. CURRAN ASU Days as well as The Guitars - A Music Odyssey are a return to the autobiographical. Book I ASU Days tells the story beginning with graduate study for the Ph.D in Spanish and Latin American Studies and the account of Mark's years at Arizona State University. It is comprised of memories of teaching and research days at ASU but also a description of campus life dating to 1968. Book II The Guitars - A Music Odyssey recounts the role of music in Mark's life from age 14 in 1955 to the present. The main characters are the guitars: a simple steel stringed Stella in 1955, an electric Kay and amplifyer in high school, 1955 - 1959 and college days, a Brazilian Rosewood Classic from Rio de Janeiro in 1966 and a Manuel Rodr guez Classic from Madrid, electrified for performance, 2002. The study, learning, practice and the performing range from early pop and Rock n' Roll from Elvis Presley days, to serious home study of classic guitar, to the folk tunes of the 1960s, Classic Country and Western, Irish, "Oh Brother Where Art Thou" and Classic Guitar and Contemporary Catholic Songs for meditation at church. The final chapter is a work in process: practice and performance at home.

"Adventure Travel" in Guatemala - The Maya Heritage is the fourth in the series of fiction - travel - culture - adventure books on Brazil, Mexico, Portugal-Spain, and now Guatemala. Professor Mike Gaherty and AT Leader Amy Carrier are in Guatemala researching that country as a destination for a future AT Travel Trip for its "Adventurers." They investigate Antigua, Puerto San Jos , el Lago de Atitl n, Chichicastenango, Tikal in Guatemala and Cop n in Honduras, checking out the history and culture of both the Spanish and Maya Heritages. Emphasis however is on the Maya people, their lives and efforts to survive under adverse circumstances in post 1976 earthquake and political turmoil in Guatemala. There are surprises and dangerous moments for Mike and Amy, and difficult decisions to come for AT Travel.

"The Master of the 'Literatura de Cordel' - Leandro Gomes de Barros. A Bilingual Anthology of Selected Works" is Professor Curran's return to research and writing from his first days in Brazil in 1966-1967 on a Fulbright Hays Fellowship for Ph.D. dissertation work. This book treats "Cordel's" best known and arguably best poet, a translation to English of his selected works, and a commentary on his pioneering days of the "Literatura de Cordel." Among the poet's topics were the changing times, foreigners in Brazil, government-politics-and war, mothers-in-law, sugar cane rum, religion and satire, banditry, the oral poetic duel, and the long narrative poems from the European popular tradition. Curran in addition gives a synopsis of the "Literatura de Cordel" as it was in its heyday in his initial research in the 1960s. The translation was a challenge but also a great pleasure.

"Letters from Brazil IV" is the most recent in the series of Professor Mike Gaherty's travel and research in Brazil. He has returned in 1984 after an "invited" hiatus since 1971 by the General heading Brazil's Pre-Censorship Board, this due to Mike's friendship, research, collaboration with, and defense of singer-composer Chico Buarque de Hollanda. He is reporting on current events and politics for the International Section of the "New York Times," in liason with the Institute of International Research, Latin American Sector. This includes the volatile climate of "Direct Elections Now" for the presidency. He is shadowed by the DOPS (the Brazilian Security Agency) but has become great friends with the Captain in charge of keeping an eye on him. Mike renews many old friendships and finds time to update his research specialty "The Literatura de Cordel" as folk - popular journalism since censorship ended in 1979. He also has to maneuver between some and side step other former romantic liasons in Brazil. Further collaboration in a Chico Buarque concert and dealing with Brazilian security forces gets dicey. Brazilian literature, religion, music, food and his own nostalgia for "Black Orpheus" complete the adventure.

"The Collection" is meant as an introduction to and summary of Curran's primary and secondary holdings on Brazil's "Literatura de Cordel" now at the Latin American Library of Tulane University. The book relates the story of how the "cordel" collection was put together including telling of its primary sources, the poets themselves and "cordel" stands or "barracas" in cities or towns that sold the broadsides from the mid - 1960s to 2013. Photos and short biographic entries of the poets, printers and publishers are a big part of the story. The lengthy second part of the book is comprised of the lists of the broadsides themselves (accordng to title by the author's choice, author following when known), xeroxed copies of historic titles, and Curran's library of secondary sources dealing with the collection. The author believes that this book has most everything a prospective researcher or "aficionado" needs to know about the Mark J. Curran Collection of "A Literatura de Cordel."