António Lobo Antunes
Encyclopedia
António Lobo Antunes, GCSE, MD (ɐ̃ˈtɔniu ˈloβu ɐ̃ˈtunɨʃ); born 1 September 1942) is a Portuguese
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 novelist and medical doctor.

Life and career

António Lobo Antunes was born in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

 as the eldest of six sons of João Alfredo de Figueiredo Lobo Antunes (born 1915), prominent Neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...

 and Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

, close collaborator of Egas Moniz
Egas Moniz
António Caetano de Abreu Freire Egas Moniz , known as Egas Moniz , was a Portuguese neurologist and the developer of cerebral angiography...

, Nobel prize of physiology, and wife Margarida da Beira Cardoso de Melo Machado, daughter of Joaquim José Machado, 70th, 82nd and 91st Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 of Mozambique and 110th Governor of Portuguese India
Portuguese India
The Portuguese Viceroyalty of India , later the Portuguese State of India , was the aggregate of Portugal's colonial holdings in India.The government started in 1505, six years after the discovery of a sea route to India by Vasco da Gama, with the nomination of the first Viceroy Francisco de...

, and wife Mariana Cardoso de Melo. His great-grandfather in male line was an illegitimate son of Bernardo António de Brito Antunes, 1st Viscount of Nazaré. His brother is neurosurgeon João Lobo Antunes
João Lobo Antunes
João Lobo Antunes, MD ; born 4 June 1944) is a Portuguese neurosurgeon.-Life and career:João Lobo Antunes was born in Lisbon as the second of six sons of João Alfredo de Figueiredo Lobo Antunes , prominent Neurologist and Professor, close collaborator of Egas Moniz, Nobel prize of physiology, and...

.

At the age of seven, he decided to be a writer but when he was 16, his father sent him to the medical school of the University of Lisbon. He graduated as a medical doctor, later specializing in psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...

. During this time he never stopped writing.

By the end of his education, Lobo Antunes had to serve with the Portuguese Army
Portuguese Army
The Portuguese Army is the ground branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in co-operation with other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the defence of Portugal...

 to take part in the Portuguese Colonial War
Portuguese Colonial War
The Portuguese Colonial War , also known in Portugal as the Overseas War or in the former colonies as the War of liberation , was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974, when the Portuguese regime was...

 (1961–1974). In a military hospital in Angola
Angola (Portugal)
Angola is the common name by which the Portuguese colony in southwestern Africa was known across different periods of time...

, he became interested in the subjects of death and the other.

Lobo Antunes came back from Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 in 1973. The Angolan war for independence was the subject of many of his novels. He worked many months in Germany and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

.

In 1979, Lobo Antunes published his first novel, Memória de Elefante (Elephant's Memory), in which he told the story of his separation. Due to the success of his first novel, Lobo Antunes decided to devote his evenings to writing. He has been practicing psychiatry as well, mainly at the outpatients' unit at the Hospital Miguel Bombarda of Lisbon.

His style is considered to be very dense, heavily influenced by William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...

 and Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Louis-Ferdinand Céline
Louis-Ferdinand Céline was the pen name of French writer and physician Louis-Ferdinand Destouches . Céline was chosen after his grandmother's first name. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, developing a new style of writing that modernized both French and...

, and his books also very dense in size.

He is also a supporter of Iberian Federalism.

He was granted the Grand Cross
Grand Cross
The phrase Grand Cross is used to denote the highest grade in many orders of knighthood. Sometimes the holders of the highest grade are referred to "knights grand cross" or just "grand crosses"; in other cases the actual insignia itself is called "the grand cross".Alternatively, in some other...

 of the Order of Saint James of the Sword.

Marriages and issue

He married firstly and divorced Maria José Xavier da Fonseca e Costa (Viseu
Viseu
Viseu is both a city and a municipality in the Dão-Lafões Subregion of Centro Region, Portugal. The municipality, with an area of 507.1 km², has a population of 99,593 , and the city proper has 47,250...

, 13 October 1946 - Lisbon, 20 February 1999), the second of three daughters of José Hermano da Costa (7 September 1911 - Lisbon, 1 September 1994) and wife Clara da Conceição de Barros Xavier da Fonseca e Costa (Viseu, Viseu, 1919 - ?), by whom he has two daughters: Maria José da Fonseca e Costa Lobo Antunes in 1971 (wife of José Filipe Pinheiro Chagas Verde (born Angola, 20 October 1961) and mother of José Maria Lobo Antunes Vasques de Paula (born Lisbon, 6 July 2000) by António Pedro de Paula e Barros Vasques, born in 1970); and Joana da Fonseca e Costa Lobo Antunes in 1973 (wife of David Vítor Marçal Pinto and mother of João Alfredo Lobo Antunes Marçal (born Lisbon, São Jorge de Arroios, 22 October 2009)).

He married secondly and divorced Maria João Espírito Santo Bustorff Silva (born Lisbon, 13 August 1950), daughter of António Sérgio Carneiro Bustorff Silva (born 9 July 1923) and wife (m. 1940) Ana Maria da Anunciação de Fátima de Morais Sarmento Cohen do Espírito Santo Silva (born 1928, Sephardi Jewish
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...

 on her maternal grandfather's side), and former wife of José Luís de Castro Caldas (born 16 April 1941), with one son, by whom she has one daughter: Isabel Bustorff Lobo Antunes (born 1983).

He married thirdly in 2010 Cristina Ferreira de Almeida, daughter of João Carlos Ferreira de Almeida (Lisbon, 1941 - 2008) and wife Natércia Ribeiro da Silva (born Alenquer).

Awards

  • Prize of Portuguese Writers' Association (1985 and 1999)
  • France Culture Prize (1996 and 1997)
  • Rosalía de Castro Prize (1999)
  • The Austrian State Prize for European Literature (2000)
  • Ovid Prize
    Ovid Prize
    The Ovid Prize, established in 2002, is a literary prize awarded annually to an author from any country, in recognition of a body of work. Past recipients include Orhan Pamuk, Andrei Codrescu, Amoz Oz, Jorge Semprún and António Lobo Antunes. It is named in honour of the Roman poet Ovid, who died in...

    , Romania (2003)
  • Latin Union International Prize (2003)
  • Jerusalem Prize
    Jerusalem Prize
    The Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society is a biennial literary award given to writers whose works have dealt with themes of human freedom in society. It is awarded at the Jerusalem International Book Fair, and the recipient usually delivers an address when accepting the award...

     (2005)
  • Camões Prize
    Camões Prize
    The Camões Prize , named after Luís de Camões is the most important literary prize for the Portuguese language. It is awarded annually by the Portuguese Fundação Biblioteca Nacional and the Brazilian Departamento Nacional do Livro to the author of an outstanding work written in Portuguese.It...

     (2007)
  • Juan Rulfo Premio de Literatura en Lengua Romances
    Juan Rulfo Prize
    The Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature, created in 1991, is awarded to writers of literature from Latin America or the Caribbean who write in Spanish, Portuguese, French, or English, or to writers from any part of America who write in Spanish...

     (2008)
  • France Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
    Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
    The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is an Order of France, established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture, and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Mérite by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963...

    (2008)

External links

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