Luís Cardoso de Noronha (born 8 December 1958) is a contemporary
East Timor
Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...
ese writer. His work focuses on the history of his homeland. It is written in
Portuguese, and has been translated into other languages including French and English. In 2021, he won the
Prêmio Oceanos for his novel ''The Pumpkin Planter (Sonata for a Fog)'' (''O Plantador de Abóboras (Sonata para uma Neblina)'' (2020)).
Early life and education
Cardoso was born in
Cailaco,
Bobonaro
Bobonaro is a town in Bobonaro Subdistrict, Bobonaro District, East Timor., United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The district capital is not in Bobonaro, but is in Maliana
Maliana is a city in East Timor, 149 kilomet ...
, an inland town in the then
Portuguese Timor
Portuguese Timor () was a Portuguese colony on the territory of present-day East Timor from 1702 until 1975. During most of this period, Portugal shared the island of Timor with the Dutch East Indies.
The first Europeans to arrive in the regio ...
.
As the son of a paramedic who worked in several locations in East Timor, he came to know, and speaks, several Timorese languages.
He attended the missionary colleges of
Soibada in
Manatuto
Manatuto is a city in Manatuto Municipality, East Timor.
Manatuto Vila has 3,692 inhabitants (Census 2015) and is capital of the subdistrict and district Manatuto. It is on the north coast of Timor, (about as the crow flies) east of Dili
...
and
Fuiloro in
Lautém, the
Seminary of Our Lady of Fatima in
Dare
Dare may refer to:
Places
* Dare, Vera Cruz, a ''suco'' in Vera Cruz administrative post, Dili Municipality, Timor-Leste
* Darè, Italy, a comune
* Dare County, North Carolina, United States
* Dare, Virginia, United States, an unincorporate ...
,
Dili
Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...
, and the
Liceu Dr. Francisco Machado in Dili.
After the
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
in 1974, Cardoso went to Portugal on a scholarship for further training at the
Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA),
University of Lisbon
The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...
, from which he obtained a degree in
silviculture
Silviculture is the practice of controlling the growth, composition/structure, as well as quality of forests to meet values and needs, specifically timber production.
The name comes from the Latin ('forest') and ('growing'). The study of forests ...
.
One of his fellow students at the ISA was the writer
José Eduardo Agualusa. He also qualified in law, environmental politics and mathematics.
Career
Due to the
Indonesian invasion of East Timor
The Indonesian invasion of East Timor, known in Indonesia as Operation Lotus (), began on 7 December 1975 when the Indonesian military (ABRI/TNI) invaded East Timor under the pretext of anti-colonialism and anti-communism to overthrow the Fre ...
, Cardoso then remained in Portugal. There, he became involved in the
National Council of Maubere Resistance ( (CNRM)), the umbrella organization of the East Timorese resistance against the Indonesians. He campaigned in Spain, Portugal and Brazil for the CNRM.
Cardoso has also worked as a Timorese storyteller, as a columnist for ''Fórum Estudante'' magazine, and as a Professor of
Tetum
Tetum may refer to:
* Tetum language, an Austronesian language
** Tetum alphabet, used to write the Tetum language
* Tetum people, an ethnic group of East Timor and Indonesia
{{disambiguation
Language and nationality disambiguation pages ...
and Portuguese Language.
In his written works, which have been translated into several languages, Cardoso repeatedly takes up the
history of East Timor
Timor-Leste, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. The country comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor and the nearby islands of Atauro Island, Atauro and Jaco. The first inha ...
. His first book, ''
The Crossing'' (2002) (''Crónica de uma Travessia'' (1997)) has the flavour of a colonial ''
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, a bildungsroman () is a literary genre that focuses on the psychological and moral growth and change of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age). The term comes from the German words ('formation' or 'edu ...
'', but is in fact an autobiographical
memoir
A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...
of his early days in Portuguese Timor, and subsequent exile in Lisbon. In ''Owl Eyes – Cat Eyes '' (''Olhos de Coruja, Olhos de Gato Bravo'' (2001)), he relates the profound consequences that Portugal's "
Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution (), code-named Operation Historic Turn (), also known as the 25 April (), was a military coup by military officers that overthrew the Estado Novo government on 25 April 1974 in Portugal. The coup produced major socia ...
" had for its tiny, isolated colony in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...
. In ''The Last Death of Colonel Santiago'' (''A Última Morte do Coronel Santiago'' (2003)), the narrator, an expatriate East Timorese resident in Portugal, returns to his home country and is confronted with the crimes committed by his ancestors.
In 2015, Cardoso told Portuguese
news agency
A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and All-news radio, radio and News broadcasting, television Broadcasting, broadcasters. A news agency ma ...
Lusa (translation):
Six years later, in 2021, Cardoso won the Prêmio Oceanos for his sixth novel, ''The Pumpkin Planter (Sonata for a Fog)'' (''O Plantador de Abóboras (Sonata para uma Neblina)'' (2020)).
The pumpkins mentioned in that title, and in the novel, serve as a metaphor for East Timor, which depends heavily upon oil exploitation, but in Cardoso's view ought to return to more sustainable alternatives. In the novel, Cardoso's female narrator takes the reader through three wars involving East Timor: the
Manufahi Rebellion of 1911–1912, the
Japanese invasion and occupation during World War II, and the
Indonesian invasion and
subsequent occupation of the former Portuguese colony.
As the first Timorese to win the Prêmio Oceanos, Cardoso was congratulated by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
Francisco Guterres
Francisco Guterres, popularly known as Lú-Olo (born 7 September 1954), is an East Timorese politician who served as 6th president of East Timor from 2017 to 2022. He is also the president of the political party Fretilin, and he was the first ...
and his predecessor
José Ramos-Horta
José Manuel Ramos-Horta GCL GColIH (; born 26 December 1949) is an East Timorese politician. He has been the president of East Timor since 2022, having previously also held the position from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. Previously he was Mini ...
. In an interview with the
Tatoli news agency, Cardoso dedicated his victory to all the people of East Timor. According to Cardoso, the Timorese have a patriotic duty to record in a book the history of their country and their lives, and the freedom to choose the topic.
"Writing is my form of civic intervention as a citizen of my country," he had explained to Lusa in an earlier interview.
After winning the award, he added, "We have oral literature, but we don't have written literature in Timor and written literature is starting and I'm kicking off."
List of works
Cardoso's works include:
* ''
The Crossing'' (Translated by Jull Costa, Margaret.; London: Granta, 2002; )
(''Crónica de uma Travessia - A Época do Ai Dik-Funam'' (Lisbon, 1997))
* ''Owl Eyes – Cat Eyes ''
(''Olhos de Coruja, Olhos de Gato Bravo'' (Lisbon, 2001))
* ''The Last Death of Colonel Santiago''
(''A Última Morte do Coronel Santiago'' (Lisbon, 2003))
* ''Requiem for a Solitary Navigator''
(''Requiem para um Navegador solitário'' (Lisbon, 2007))
* ''The Year Pigafetta Completed His Circumnavigation''
(''O Ano em que Pigafetta completou a Circum-Navegação'' (Lisbon, 2012))
* ''Where do Cats Go when They Die? A Biblical Parable''
(''Para onde vão os Gatos quando morrem? Uma Parábola Bíblica'' (Lisbon, 2017)
* ''The Pumpkin Planter (Sonata for a Fog)''
(''O Plantador de Abóboras (Sonata para uma Neblina)'' (Lisbon, 2020))
References
External links
A língua da travessia* Esperança, João Paulo ''et al.''
O que é a lusofonia - ''Saida maka luzofonia'' Díli, Instituto Camões, 2005
*
Timothy Mo'
review of ''The Crossing''in
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardoso, Luis
Living people
East Timorese writers
Portuguese-language writers
1958 births