SAPOTI: a tree (Achras sapota) native to the Caribbean, but cultivated all over the tropics. It produces chicle, the main ingredient in chewing gum, and a small round edible fruit, which does not keep well, known in English as sapodilla.

SAURÁ: a bird (Phoenicircus carnifex) of the Contingidae, found in northern Brazil, with bright red and brown plumage.

SURUBIM: a scaleless fish (Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum) native to the Amazon and prized for its meat.

TABULE: an Arab dish, sometimes known in English as tabbouleh. It is a salad made of roughly ground wheat, coriander, and chopped onions and tomatoes, mixed with olive oil and lemon juice.

TACACÁ: a porridge made with tapioca, flavored with tucupi, jambu (q.v.), prawns, and pepper. It is sold hot, in small gourds, in the streets of towns and cities of the Amazon region.

TAMBAQUI: a scaly fish (Colossum bidens) prized for its meat, which also produces an oil used for cooking and lighting.

TIPITI: a native dance, performed at the June festivals popular throughout Brazil, in honor of St. John, St. Anthony, and St. Peter.

TUCUM: a palm tree of the Astrocaryum family that produces fiber used for making nets and hammocks.

TUCUMA NUTS: the fruit of a palm tree (Astrocaryum tucuma).

TUCUNARÉ: a brownish-green scaly fish (Cichla temensis), much appreciated for its meat.

TUCUPI: a condiment made of pepper and manioc juice reduced over a fire to the consistency of molasses.

ZATAR: a herb (Thymus vulgaris) similar to oregano, much used in the Mediterranean, and known in English as garden thyme.

Copyright Page

Copyright © 2000 by Milton Hatoum

Translation copyright © 2002 by John Gledson

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

19 Union Square West, New York 10003

Originally published in 2000 by Companhia das Letras, São Paulo, as Dois irmãos
English translation published in 2002 by Bloomsbury, Great Britain
Published in the United States by Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Designed by Abby Kagan

eISBN 9781429932202

First eBook Edition : May 2011

First American edition, 2002

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hatoum, Milton, 1952–

[Dois irmãos. English]

The brothers / Milton Hatoum ; translated from the Portuguese by John Gledson.

p. cm.

I. Gledson, John, 1945–II. Title.

PQ9698.18.A86 D6513 2002

869.3’42-dc21

2002017054

The author is grateful to the Fundação Vitae for the award
of a literature scholarship in 1988.