José Mauro de Vasconcelos (February 26 1920 – July 25 1984) was a Brazilian writer.
Biography edit
Vasconcelos was born to a poor migrant family who had left the Northeast Region for Rio de Janeiro. At an early age, he had to move to the Northeast, and was raised by relatives in Natal, the capital of Rio Grande do Norte.
He entered medical school in Natal, but left in his second year and returned to Rio de Janeiro in search of better opportunities. He worked as a boxing instructor and even as a model—a statue of Vasconcelos, as model for sculptor Bruno Giorgi, may still be seen at the Monument to Youth (Monumento à Juventude), at the former headquarters of the Brazilian Ministry of Education.
In literature, Vasconcelos' debut work was the 1942 novel Banana Brava. In Meu Pé de Laranja Lima (My Sweet Orange Tree, translated twice into English, in 1971 and 1983), his most successful work, he draws on personal experience to portray the shock suffered in childhood due to the abrupt changes of life.
As writer edit
Conquanto dono de uma literatura leve e agradável, tendo feito grande sucesso junto ao público, a importância do trabalho de José Mauro não é devidamente reconhecida no Brasil.
A crítica francesa Claire Baudewyns afirma que suas obras "ce qui confère aux œuvres de José Mauro de Vasconcelos une poésie particulière née de l’alchimie entre monde réel et monde imaginaire." ("o que confere às obras de José Mauro de Vasconcelos uma poesia particular, nascida da alquimia entre o mundo real e o mundo imaginário", numa tradução livre)[1].
Bibliography edit
- Banana Brava (1942)
- Barro Blanco (1945)
- Longe da Terra (1949)
- Vazante (1951)
- Arara Vermelha (1953)
- Arraia de Fogo (1955)
- Rosinha, Minha Canoa (1962)
- Doidão (1963)
- O Garanhão das Praias (1964)
- Coração de Vidro (1964)
- As Confissões de Frei Abóbora (1966)
- O Meu Pé de Laranja Lima (1968)
- Rua Descalça (1969)
- O Palácio Japonês (1969)
- Farinha Órfã (1970)
- Chuva Crioula (1972)
- O Veleiro de Cristal (1973)
- Vamos Aquecer o Sol (1974)
External links edit
- (in Portuguese) Biography in A Gazeta do Povo
- (in French) Analysis of his work