The politic Grace’s Master: essay on his management reports in light of administrative law

Abstract

During the course of the Old Republic of Brazil, Palm of the Indians, state of Alagoas, was a municipality where the law was loose and subservient to the command of the colonels. It was in this city that Graciliano Ramos showed his literary verve by reporting, with transparency and style, aspects of his demanding public management. As a manager, he always cultivated the habit of drafting reports in which he publicized his activities, rendering accounts of public resources and making his conduct transparent. Using clear, sometimes ironic and sarcastic language, it produced a real lesson in transparency when managing the municipality. The Master Grace had a peculiar style in describing the activities of the city hall that he managed, incorporating elements of journalism and literature, reinforcing how advanced his thought was for the time. As mayor, ethics and impersonality were non-negotiable values. Despite the meager municipal public revenue, it made its public administration a landmark for administrative law. It is intended to analyze how Graciliano humanized the right to transform his administrative activities into great narratives without masking reality. After all, he turned the most arid policy into literature for using metaphorical language to describe the misery of public management.