Heloísa dos Reis Maranhão (1925 – 15 December 2014) was a Brazilian novelist, playwright and short-story writer.

Life and career

Heloísa Maranhão was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

in 1925. She is a descendant of the 16th-century colonial governor Jeronimo de Albuquerque. She received a classical education, at a French-speaking boarding school run by nuns, before graduating in law from the

University of Brasília A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. She worked as a translator and radio producer and teacher of theater. To maintain her freedom, she never married and lived for many years with her sister. In the 1950s and 1960s, Heloísa wrote

experimental theater Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu plays as a rejection of both the age in particular ...

. ''Castelo interior & moradas'' (1978) contained poems linked intertextually to ancient religious texts. Her first novel, ''Lucrezia'' (1979), was set in Renaissance Rome, fusing historical figures in the character of

Lucrezia Borgia Lucrezia Borgia (18 April 1480 – 24 June 1519) was an Italian noblewoman of the House of Borgia who was the illegitimate daughter of Pope Alexander VI and Vannozza dei Cattanei. She was a former governor of Spoleto. Her family arranged ...

. ''Florinda'' (1982), in which a murder is announced to be committed during a theatrical performance, crossed genre boundaries. In ''Dona Leonor Teles'' (1985), a woman with delusions of being 14th-century queen

Leonor Teles Leonor Teles (or Teles de Meneses; ) was queen consort of Portugal by marriage to King Ferdinand I, and regent of Portugal. She was one of the protagonists, along with her brothers and her daughter Beatrice, of the events that led to the su ...

is hospitalized. ''A Rainha de Navarra'' (1986) follows a woman dressed as a queen of Navarre for a samba performance, who believes she is the queen after waking from a faint. ''Adriana'' (1990) adopts the perspective of a ten-year-old girl. Her last novel, ''Rosa Maria Egipcíaca da Vera Cruz'' (1997), follows a writer sequestered in her bedroom with a 17th-century African slave. The writer is engaged in writing a novel about the slave, Rosa Egipcíaca, which comes to encompass the entire

history of Brazil Before the arrival of the Europeans, the lands that now constitute Brazil were occupied, fought over and settled by diverse tribes. Thus, the history of Brazil begins with the indigenous people in Brazil. The Portuguese arrived to the land tha ...

. Maranhão was a member of the Pen Club of Brazil. She died on 15 December 2014.

Works

* ''Paixão da terra''. 1958. * ''Negra Bá: peça de teatro''. 1959. * ''Castelo interior & moradas''. 1978. * ''Lucrécia: romance''. 1979. * ''Florinda : romance policial ... com mistério''. 1982. * ''Dona Leonor Teles: romance''. 1985. * ''A rainha de Navarra: romance''. 1986. * ''Adriana: romance''. 1989. * ''Rosa Maria Egipcíaca da Vera Cruz: a incrível trajetória de uma princesa negra entre a prostituição e a santidade''. 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maranhao, Heloisa 1925 births 2014 deaths University of Brasília alumni 20th-century Brazilian novelists Brazilian women novelists Brazilian dramatists and playwrights Brazilian women dramatists and playwrights Brazilian short story writers Brazilian women short story writers Writers from Rio de Janeiro (city)