Memoirs of a Police Sergeant (Portuguese: Memórias de um sargento de milícias) is a novel written by the Brazilian author Manuel Antônio de Almeida. It was first published in 1852. It tells the colorful story of a problem child that grows up into an immoral, reckless young man until he is arrested by the police and given the chance of becoming an officer instead of serving his sentence. The book is full of picturesque descriptions of Rio de Janeiro's life in the early 19th century, including popular feasts and holidays, and is considered, besides a literary masterpiece, an important source of Brazilian history.
A recent edition in Portuguese (New York, NY: Luso-Brazilian Books, 2005) has the ISBN 0-85051-504-1. A recent English edition titled Memoirs of a militia sergeant: a novel (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999) has the ISBN 0-19-511549-X.
Famous quotes containing the words memoirs, police and/or sergeant:
“There are people who can write their memoirs with a reasonable amount of honesty, and there are people who simply cannot take themselves seriously enough. I think I might be the first to admit that the sort of reticence which prevents a man from exploiting his own personality is really an inverted sort of egotism.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A sergeant of the lawe, war and wys,
That often hadde been at the Parvys,
Ther was also, ful riche of excellence.”
—Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?–1400)