Rubem Fonseca (May 11, 1925 – April 15, 2020) was a Brazilian writer.

Life and career

He was born in

Juiz de Fora Juiz de Fora (, '' Outsider Judge''), also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately from the state border with Rio de Janeiro. According to 2020 estimates the current population is about 57 ...

, in the state of

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

, but he lived most of his life in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. In 1952, he started his

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

as a low-level cop and, later became a police commissioner, one of the highest ranks in the civil police of Brazil. Following the steps of American novelist

Thomas Pynchon Thomas Ruggles Pynchon Jr. ( , ; born May 8, 1937) is an American novelist noted for his dense and complex novels. His fiction and non-fiction writings encompass a vast array of subject matter, genres and themes, including history, music, scie ...

, a close friend of Fonseca, he refused to give interviews and felt strongly about maintaining his privacy.Tello Garrido, Romeo. Prólogo en Fonseca Rubem, Los mejores relatos. México: Alfaguara, 1998. His stories are dark and gritty, filled with violence and sexual content, and usually set in an urban environment. He claimed a writer should have the courage to show what most people are afraid to say. His work is considered groundbreaking in Brazilian literature , up until then mostly focused on rural settings and usually treating cities with less interest. Almost all Brazilian contemporary writers acknowledge Fonseca's importance. Authors from the rising generation of Brazilian writers, such as

Patrícia Melo Patrícia Melo (born 1962 in São Paulo) is a Brazilian author. She has written ''The Killer'' and ''In Praise of Lies'', among others. Her works have dealt with sex and violence in a heavily urbanized setting.Anne Lambright, Elisabeth Guerrero'' ...

Luiz Ruffato Luiz Fernando Ruffato de Souza (Cataguases, Brazil, February 1961) is a contemporary Brazilian writer. An alumnus of the Federal University of Juiz de Fora in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, Ruffato worked as a journalist in São Paulo and pu ...

, have stated that Fonseca's writing has influenced their work. He started his career by writing

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

, considered by some critics as his strongest literary creations. His first popular

novel A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itsel ...

was ''

A Grande Arte ''A Grande Arte'' (in English, ''The Great Art''; US title: ''Exposure''), is a 1991 Brazilian movie directed by Walter Salles Jr. and starring Peter Coyote. Loosely based on the book ''A Grande Arte'' by Brazilian Rubem Fonseca, it is one of t ...

'' (High Art), but "Agosto" is usually considered his best work. One recurring character in Fonseca's books is the lawyer-detective Mandrake. In 2003, he won the

Camões Prize The Camões Prize (Portuguese, ''Prémio Camões'', ), named after Luís de Camões, is the most important prize for literature in the Portuguese language. It is awarded annually by the Portuguese ''Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Bib ...

, considered to be the most important

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...

in the

Portuguese language Portuguese ( or, in full, ) is a western Romance language of the Indo-European language family, originating in the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is an official language of Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and ...

. In 2012 he became the first recipient of Chile's

Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award The Manuel Rojas Ibero-American Narrative Award ( es, Premio Iberoamericano de Narrativa Manuel Rojas, links=no) is an annual award given in honor of the author of ''Hijo de ladrón'' by the National Council of Culture and the Arts of Chile. It ...

. He died in Rio de Janeiro in April 2020 at the age of 94 just 26 days before his 95th birthday

Bibliography

Brazilian editions

Novels and novellas

*''O Caso Morel'' (1973) *''A Grande Arte'' (1983) *'' Bufo & Spallanzani'' (1986) *''Vastas Emoções e Pensamentos Imperfeitos'' (1988) *''Agosto'' (1990) *''O Selvagem da Ópera'' (1994) *''Do Meio do Mundo Prostituto Só Amores Guardei ao Meu Charuto'' (1997, novella) *''O doente Molière'' (2000, novella) *''Diário de um Fescenino'' (2003) *''Mandrake: A Bíblia e a Bengala'' (2005, novella) *''O Seminarista'' (2009) *José (2011)

Short story collections and anthologies

*'' Os Prisioneiros'' (1963) *''A Coleira do Cão'' (1965) *''Lúcia McCartney'' (1967) *''Feliz Ano Novo'' (1975) *''O Homem de Fevereiro ou Março'' (1973) *''O Cobrador'' (1979) *''Romance Negro e Outras Histórias'' (1992) *''Contos Reunidos'' (1994) *''O Buraco na Parede'' (1995) *''Romance Negro, Feliz Ano Novo e Outras Histórias'' (1996) *''Histórias de Amor'' (1997) *''Confraria dos Espadas'' (1998) *''Secreções, Excreções e Desatinos'' (2001) *''Pequenas Criaturas'' (2002) *''64 Contos de Rubem Fonseca'' (2004) *''Ela e Outras Mulheres'' (2006) *''Axilas e Outras Histórias Indecorosas'' (2011) * ''Histórias Curtas'' (2015)

English translations

*''High Art'' (translation by Ellen Watson, Harper & Row, New York, 1986) *''Bufo & Spallanzani'' (translation by Clifford E. Landers, Dutton, New York, 1990) *''Vast Emotions and Imperfect Thoughts'' (translation by Clifford Landers, Ecco Press, New York, 1998) *'' The Taker and Other Stories'' (translation by Clifford E. Landers, Open Letter, New York, 2008) *''Crimes of August'' (translation by Clifford E. Landers of ''Agosto'', University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, Mass., 2014)

References

External links

Writer´s official site

Short biography
in Portuguese
Descriptions of Fonseca's books from one distributor
in Portuguese

in Spanish {{DEFAULTSORT:Fonseca, Rubem 1925 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Brazilian male writers Brazilian male short story writers 20th-century Brazilian short story writers Thriller writers Camões Prize winners People from Juiz de Fora Writers from Rio de Janeiro (city) 20th-century Brazilian novelists 21st-century Brazilian male writers 21st-century Brazilian short story writers 21st-century Brazilian novelists Brazilian male novelists