Murilo Rubião (1 June 1916 – 16 September 1991) was a Brazilian writer. His entire work consists of short stories, best described as surreal fables in the tradition of
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...
- this being so, Rubião's work must be seen as part of the
Magic Realism movement of late 20th-century Latin America. It is said that Rubião was obsessive about his work, revising it at every new edition, always changing a few details, such as characters' names.
Biography
Rubião was born in
Carmo de Minas city, 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 ...
, Brazil, to Eugênio Alvares Rubião and Maria Antonieta Ferreira Rubião. He attended school in
Conceição do Rio Verde
Conceição do Rio Verde is a Brazilian municipality of 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 ...
, then studied law in
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
, graduating in 1942. In 1947 he released his first collection of short stories, ''O ex-mágico''. The book won little acclaim and Rubião began work as a political advisor. In 1951, he became head of the governor's office of
Presidente Kubitschek. Between 1956 and 1961 he served as cultural attaché of Brazil in Spain. In 1966 he founded the Literary Supplement of the Official Gazette of Minas Gerais, which became the most widely distributed literary supplement in Brazil.
The publication of ''O pirotécnico Zacarias'' in 1974 brought Rubião sudden literary fame. He is believed to have influenced many
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian authors, among them
José J. Veiga and
Moacyr Scliar
Moacyr Jaime Scliar (March 23, 1937February 27, 2011) was a Brazilian writer and physician. Most of his writing centers on issues of Jewish identity in the Diaspora and particularly on being Jewish in Brazil.
Scliar is best known outside Brazil ...
. Rubião died in Belo Horizonte on September 16, 1991.
Bibliography
* ''O ex-mágico'' (1947)
* ''A estrela vermelha'' (1953)
* ''Os dragões e outros contos'' (1965)
* ''O pirotécnico Zacarias'' (1974)
* ''O convidado'' (1974)
* ''A casa do girassol vermelho'' (1978)
* ''The Ex-Magician and Other Stories''
nglish trans. Thomas Colchie(1979)
* ''O homem do boné cinzento e outras histórias'' (1990)
* ''Contos reunidos'' (2005)
External links
*
Rubião's Life
1916 births
1991 deaths
Brazilian writers
Brazilian speculative fiction writers
{{Brazil-writer-stub