Érico Lopes Verissimo (December 17, 1905 – November 28, 1975) was an important Brazilian writer, born in the State of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

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 A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

because of the need to work. Verissimo settled in Cruz Alta as the owner of a

drugstore A pharmacy (also called drugstore in American English or community pharmacy or chemist in Commonwealth English) is a premises which provides pharmaceutical drugs, among other products. At the pharmacy, a pharmacist oversees the fulfillment of m ...

, but was unsuccessful. He then moved to

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

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 Editora Globo S.A. is a Brazilian publishing house, property of :pt:Fundação Roberto Marinho, Fundação Roberto Marinho. It began as a bookstore called Livraria do Globo, created in Porto Alegre, in December 1883, by Laudelino Pinheiro de Barc ...

, propelling its nationwide fame. He published his first work, ''Fantoches'' ("Puppets"), in 1932, with a sequence of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single 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 old ...

, mostly in the form of short plays. The following year, he saw his first great success with the

romance Romance may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings ** Romantic orientation, the classification of the sex or gender with which a pers ...

''Clarissa''. 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 Brazilian Literature in the

University of California-Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley ...

, until 1945. Between 1953 and 1956 he was director of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

, in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

This period of his life was recorded in some of his books, including: ''Gato Preto em Campo de Neve'' ("Black Cat in a Snow Field"), ''A Volta do Gato Preto'' ("The Return of the Black Cat"), and ''História da Literatura Brasileira'' ("History of Brazilian Literature"), which contains some of his lectures at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. His epic ''

O Tempo e o Vento ''O Tempo e o Vento'' (''Time and the Wind'') is a trilogy of novels written by the Brazilian author Erico Verissimo. Confusingly, the first part of the series, ''O Continente'', was translated as ''Time and the Wind'', giving the impression t ...

'' ("The Time and the Wind'") became one of the great masterpieces of the Brazilian novel, alongside ''

Os Sertões ''Os Sertões'' (, "the backlands"; 1902), translated as ''Rebellion in the Backlands'', is a book written by the Brazilian author Euclides da Cunha. Mixing science and literature, the author narrates the true story of a war that happened at th ...

'' by

Euclides da Cunha Euclides da Cunha (, January 20, 1866 – August 15, 1909) was a Brazilian journalist, sociologist and engineer. His most important work is '' Os Sertões'' (''Rebellion in the Backlands''), a non-fictional account of the military expeditions ...

, and '' Grande Sertão: Veredas'' by

Guimarães Rosa Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved a ...

. His historical trilogy ''

'' ("The Time and the Wind") is considered as his greatest work, written in the period of 1949-1961, from which arose primordial characters such as ''Ana Terra'' and ''Capitão Rodrigo'' that went on to become popular amongst his readers. Four of his, ''Time and the Wind'', ''Night'', ''Mexico'', and ''

His Excellency, the Ambassador ''O Senhor Embaixador'' (English: ''His Excellency, the Ambassador'') is a novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short stor ...

'', were translated into the English language by

Linton Lomas Barrett Linton Lomas Barrett, Ph.D. (1 September 1904 – 8 March 1972) was an influential educator, administrator, diplomat, editor, Hispanist and translator of Romance languages. Life Barrett was born in Lanett, Alabama, the son of Linton Steph ...

. In 1965 Verissimo published the romance ''O Senhor Embaixador'' ("His Excellency, the Ambassador"), in which he reflected upon the deviations of

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. In the romance ''Incidente em Antares'' ("Incident in Antares"), written in 1971, he traces a parallel with Brazilian politics with the use of

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

, with the rebellion of corpses during a strike of the gravekeepers, in the fictitious city of Antares. After suffering from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in 1975, Verissimo was unable to complete the second volume of his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

entitled ''Solo de Clarineta'' ("Clarinet Solo"), which was intended to be a trilogy, apart from a romance which would be entitled ''A Hora do Sétimo Anjo'' ("The Hour of the Seventh Angel"). 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 *''

'' (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 ''The Adventures of the Red Airplane'' () is a 1936 book for children by the Brazilian author Érico Veríssimo. Fernando is a naughty little boy. His father gives him a book of stories to keep him quiet. Fernando is entranced, especially by the ...

'' – 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 Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1 April 1875 – 10 February 1932) was a British writer of crime and adventure fiction. Born into poverty as an illegitimate London child, Wallace left school at the age of 12. He joined the army at age 21 and was ...

– 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 ''Point Counter Point'' is a novel by Aldous Huxley, first published in 1928. It is Huxley's longest novel, and was notably more complex and serious than his earlier fiction. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked ''Point Counter Point'' 44th ...

'', by

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley ( ; 26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction novel, non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the ...

– 1934 *'' Kleiner Mann, Was nun?'', by

Hans Fallada Hans Fallada (; born Rudolf Wilhelm Friedrich Ditzen; 21 July 18935 February 1947) was a German writer of the first half of the 20th century. Some of his better known novels include '' Little Man, What Now?'' (1932) and '' Every Man Dies Alone'' ...

– 1937 *'' We Are Not Alone'', by James Hilton – 1940 *'' Goodbye Mr. Chips'', by James Hilton – 1940 *''

Of Mice and Men ''Of Mice and Men'' is a 1937 novella written by American author John Steinbeck. It describes the experiences of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant worker, migrant ranch workers, as they move from place to place in California ...

'', by

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

– 1940 *''

Portrait of Jennie ''Portrait of Jennie'' (also released under the title ''Tidal Wave'') is a 1948 American supernatural film directed by William Dieterle, produced by David O. Selznick, and starring Jennifer Jones, Joseph Cotten, Ethel Barrymore, and Lillian ...

'', by Robert Nathan – 1942 *'' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'', by

Horace McCoy Horace Stanley McCoy (April 14, 1897 – December 15, 1955) was an American writer whose mostly hardboiled stories took place during the Great Depression. His best-known novel is '' They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' (1935), which was made into a ...

– 1947 *''Then and Now'', by

Somerset Maugham William Somerset Maugham ( ; 25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English writer, known for his plays, novels and short stories. Born in Paris, where he spent his first ten years, Maugham was schooled in England and went to a German un ...

– 1948 *''The Clue of the New Pin''), by Edgar Wallace – 1956 :Short Stories *'' ''Psychology'''', by

Katherine Mansfield Kathleen Mansfield Murry (née Beauchamp; 14 October 1888 – 9 January 1923) was a New Zealand writer and critic who was an important figure in the Literary modernism, modernist movement. Her works are celebrated across the world and have been ...

– 1939 (Revista do Globo) *''

Bliss BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C ...

'', 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 Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

, in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, California, where he taught Brazilian Literature and History * Machado de Assis Prize, in 1954, awarded by the

Brazilian Academy of Letters The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL; English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation on Tuesday, ...

, for his entire body of work * Title of Citizen of

, in 1964, granted by the City Council of that city *

Jabuti Award The red-footed tortoise (''Chelonoidis carbonarius'') is a species of tortoise from northern South America. These medium-sized tortoises generally average as adults, but can reach over . They have dark-colored (nearly black), “loaf”-shaped ...

- 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 Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * ...

, granted by President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...

in 2005 (posthumous)

References

External links

The Rise of Modern Literature in Southern Brazil
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verissimo, Erico 1905 births 1975 deaths People from Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul Culture in Rio Grande do Sul Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Brazilian agnostics Brazilian male novelists Brazilian male short story writers English–Portuguese translators 20th-century Brazilian translators 20th-century Brazilian novelists 20th-century Brazilian short story writers 20th-century Brazilian essayists 20th-century Brazilian male writers