Heliodora Carneiro de Mendonça (August 29, 1923 – April 10, 2015), better known by her pseudonym Bárbara Heliodora, was a Brazilian

theatre critic Theatre criticism is a genre of arts criticism, and the act of writing or speaking about the performing arts such as a play or opera. Theatre criticism is distinct from drama criticism, as the latter is a division of literary criticism whereas the ...

, writer and translator, specialized in the works of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. She was awarded by the Ministry of Culture of France with the

Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

Biography

She was born on August 29, 1923. Her parents were Anna Amélia and

Marcos Carneiro de Mendonça Marcos may refer to: People with the given name ''Marcos'' *Marcos (given name) * Marcos family Sports ;Surnamed * Dayton Marcos, Negro league baseball team from Dayton, Ohio (early twentieth-century) * Dimitris Markos, Greek footballer * Nél ...

. Heliodora began theatre criticism at age 35. From 1964 to 1967, she left criticism to work as director of the National Theater Service (SNT). Later, she turned solely to teaching as a professor of theater history at the National Theater Conservatory and, later, as a full professor of the same subject at the Center for Letters and Arts at Uni-Rio, a position she held until her retirement in 1985. Later, she also taught postgraduate courses at the University of São Paulo (USP), where in 1975 she defended her doctoral thesis entitled "The Dramatic Expression of the Political Man in Shakespeare", which was later transformed into a book. She also published Algumas Reflexões sobre o Teatro Brasileiro in 1972. In 1986, she returned to journalistic criticism at Visão magazine, later moving on to newspapers such as O Globo, where she established herself. In the 1990s, she returned to teaching on the master's course in theater at Uni-Rio. She also published texts in Estado de S. Paulo. One of her best-known works is Falando de Shakespeare, a expressão dramática do homem político em Shakespeare e Martins Pena: uma introdução. She is also considered an "inveterate polemicist". Heliodora died on April 10, 2015.Crítica teatral Barbara Heliodora morre aos 91 anos no Rio de Janeiro

References

1923 births 2015 deaths Writers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Shakespearean scholars 20th-century Brazilian translators 20th-century Brazilian women writers 21st-century Brazilian translators 21st-century Brazilian women writers Brazilian theatre critics Brazilian women critics Women theatre critics {{Brazil-translator-stub