Álvaro Filho - O mau selvagem

Based on Jean-Jacques Rousseau's theory of the myth of the noble savage, this is the story of a Brazilian immigrant aspiring to be a writer who works in a bookstore in Lisbon. There, he hears tales of the exploits of a former employee, known only as the Bad Savage. This mysterious figure refused to fulfill the cordial role assigned to immigrants as the "noble savage," always grateful for the "privilege" of enjoying the company of the former colonizer, and transformed himself into the redeeming Bad Savage, avenging the humiliations suffered by the Brazilians in the bookstore, before disappearing without a trace. Obsessed with learning more about the fate of the ideal character for the novel he intends to write, the bookseller embarks on an investigation into the whereabouts of the former employee, in the style of the detective novels in the section where he works. He embarks on the journey of an exile from a Brazil constantly beset by darkness and backwardness, a foreigner in a country not always receptive to different thoughts and accents, forced to reflect on the ever-increasing tensions between immigrants and locals. A noble savage who, page by page, begins to wonder if the Bad Savage didn't have his reasons.