Erico Verissimo
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Érico Lopes Verissimo | |
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Brazilian | |
Period | 1933-1975 |
Literary movement | Modernist |
Children | Luis Fernando Verissimo |
Érico Lopes Verissimo (December 17, 1905 – November 28, 1975) was an important Brazilian writer, born in the State of Rio Grande do Sul.
Biography
Érico Verissimo was the son of Sebastião Verissimo da Fonseca and Abegahy Lopes Verissimo. His father, heir of a rich family in Cruz Alta, met financial ruin during his son's youth and, as a result, Erico didn't complete secondary school because of the need to work.
Verissimo settled in Cruz Alta as the owner of a drugstore, but was unsuccessful. He then moved to Porto Alegre in 1930, willing to live solely by selling his writing. There he began to live around writers of renown, such as Mário Quintana, Augusto Meyer, Guilhermino César and others. In the following year, he was hired to occupy the position of secretary of edition of the Revista do Globo, of which he would become editor in 1933. He then undertook the whole editorial project at Editora Globo, propelling its nationwide fame.
He published his first work, Fantoches ("Puppets"), in 1932, with a sequence of
Verissimo married in 1931 to Mafalda Volpe and had two children, Luis Fernando Verissimo, also a writer, and Clarissa.
In 1943 he moved with his family to the United States, where he gave lessons on
His
In 1965 Verissimo published the romance O Senhor Embaixador ("His Excellency, the Ambassador"), in which he reflected upon the deviations of Latin America.
In the romance Incidente em Antares ("Incident in Antares"), written in 1971, he traces a parallel with
After suffering from a
He was the father of another famous writer of Rio Grande do Sul, Luis Fernando Verissimo.
Works
His works have been compiled on three occasions:
- Obras de Erico Verissimo ("Works of Érico Veríssimo") – 1956 (17 volumes)
- Obras completas ("Complete Works") – 1961 (10 volumes)
- Ficção completa ("Complete Fiction")– 1966 (5 volumes)
Érico Verissimo's books have been translated to German, Spanish, Finnish, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Indonesian, English, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Romanian, Russian and Czech.
Short stories
- Fantoches ("Puppets")
- As mãos de meu filho ("My Son's Hands")
- O ataque ("The Attack")
- Os devaneios do general ("The reveries of the general")
Novels
- Clarissa – 1933
- Caminhos Cruzados ("Crossed Paths") – 1935
- Música ao Longe ("Music From Afar") – 1936
- Um Lugar ao Sol ("A Place in the Sun")– 1936
- Olhai os Lírios do Campo ("Behold the Lilies of the Field")– 1938
- Saga – 1940
- O Resto É Silêncio| ("The Rest is Silence") – 1943
- O Tempo e o Vento (The Time and the Wind"):
- O continente ("The Continent") – 1949
- O Retrato ("The Portrait") – 1951
- O Arquipélago ("The Archipelago") – 1961
- Noite("Night") - 1954 (the versions published in Portugal contain also "A Sonata" ("The Sonata"), a short story written by a solitary music teacher, that sees himself transported to the past, to the year of his birth, where he falls in love for a beautiful woman)
- O Senhor Embaixador ("His Majesty, the Ambassador") – 1965
- O Prisoneiro ("The Prisoner") – 1967
- Incidente em Antares ("Incident in Antares") – 1971
Children's literature
- A vida de Joana d'Arc – 1935
- As Aventuras do Avião Vermelho– 1936
- Os Três Porquinhos Pobres – 1936
- Rosa Maria no Castelo Encantado – 1936
- Meu ABC – 1936
- As Aventuras de Tibicuera – 1937
- O Urso com Música na Barriga – 1938
- A Vida do Elefante Basílio – 1939
- Outra vez os três porquinhos – 1939
- Viagem à aurora do mundo – 1939
- Aventuras no mundo da higiene – 1939
- Gente e bichos – 1956
Travel literature
- Gato Preto em Campo de Neve – 1941
- A Volta do Gato Preto – 1946
- México – 1957
- Israel em Abril – 1969
Autobiographies
- O escritor diante do espelho – 1966 (in "Ficção Completa")
- Solo de Clarineta – Memórias (Volume I) – 1973
- Solo de clarineta – Memórias (Volume II) – 1976 (posthumous edition, organized by Flávio L. Chaves)
Essays
- Brazilian Literature: an Outline – 1945
- Mundo velho sem porteira – 1973
- Breve história da literatura brasileira
Biographies
- Um certo Henrique Bertaso – 1972
Translations
- Novels
- The Ringer, by Edgar Wallace – 1931
- The Crimson Circle, by Edgar Wallace – 1931
- The Door with Seven Locks, by Edgar Wallace – 1931
- Jahrgang 1902, by Ernst Glaeser – 1933
- Point Counter Point, by Aldous Huxley – 1934
- Kleiner Mann, Was nun?, by Hans Fallada – 1937
- We Are Not Alone, by James Hilton – 1940
- Goodbye Mr. Chips, by James Hilton – 1940
- Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck – 1940
- Portrait of Jennie, by Robert Nathan – 1942
- They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, by Horace McCoy – 1947
- Then and Now, by Somerset Maugham– 1948
- The Clue of the New Pin), by Edgar Wallace – 1956
- Short Stories
- Psychology, by Katherine Mansfield – 1939 (Revista do Globo)
- Bliss, by Katherine Mansfield – 1940
- Her First Ball, by Katherine Mansfield – 1940 (Revista do Globo)
Awards
- Machado de Assis Prize, from Cia. Editora Nacional, in 1934, for Music from afar
- Graça Aranha Foundation Award for Crossed Paths
- Title Doctor Honoris Causa, in 1944, from Mills College, in Oakland, California, where he taught Brazilian Literature and History
- Machado de Assis Prize, in 1954, awarded by the Brazilian Academy of Letters, for his entire body of work
- Title of Citizen of Porto Alegre, in 1964, granted by the City Council of that city
- Jabuti Award - Romance Category, from the Brazilian Chamber of Books, in 1965, for the book O Senhor Ambassador
- Intellectual of the Year Award (Troféu Juca Pato), in 1968, awarded by Folha de S.Paulo and the Brazilian Union of Writers
- Additional Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco, granted by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2005 (posthumous)
References
External links
- The Rise of Modern Literature in Southern Brazil Archived 2010-08-22 at the Wayback Machine