José Mauro de Vasconcelos
Encyclopedia
Biography
José Mauro was born in Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
on February 26 of 1920. His family was very poor, and when he was still very young, he migrated to Natal
Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
-History:The northeastern tip of South America, Cabo São Roque, to the north of Natal and the closest point to Europe from Latin America, was first visited by European navigators in 1501, in the 1501–1502 Portuguese expedition led by Amerigo Vespucci, who named the spot after the saint of the day...
where relatives took care of him. Entering the Medical Faculty, José abandoned the course of studies in his second year and returned to Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
. There he worked as a boxing instructor and even as a painter's model.
José iniciated his literature with the novel Banana Brava. His greatest success was his novel Meu Pé de Laranja Lima, that tells about his own personal experiences and the shocks he suffered in his childhood with the abrupt changes of life.
José was part Indian
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
and part 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....
. He passed his childhood in Natal
Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
-History:The northeastern tip of South America, Cabo São Roque, to the north of Natal and the closest point to Europe from Latin America, was first visited by European navigators in 1501, in the 1501–1502 Portuguese expedition led by Amerigo Vespucci, who named the spot after the saint of the day...
. When he was 9 years old, he learned to swim, and with pleasure he still remembers the days when he threw himself to the waters of the Potengi River
Potengi River
The Potenji River , meaning "river of the shrimps" in Tupi, is the principal river in the state of Rio Grande do Norte . Its delta, that discharges in the coastline of Natal, was soon discovered by the first colonists that used to penetrate into the territory with their vessels...
to train for swimming competitions. José frequently went to the sea. He won many swimming competitions and, like every boy, liked to play soccer and to climb on trees. José's first job, from 16 yars old to 17 years old, was a sparring partner of featherweight boxers. Next, he worked in a farm in Mazomba, his job was to carry bananas. After that, he became a fisherman and lived on the coastline at Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
. Later he moved to Recife
Recife
Recife is the fifth-largest metropolitan area in Brazil with 4,136,506 inhabitants, the largest metropolitan area of the North/Northeast Regions, the 5th-largest metropolitan influence area in Brazil, and the capital and largest city of the state of Pernambuco. The population of the city proper...
, where he became an elementary teacher and teacher at a fishermen's center.
Because of his prodigious capacity of telling stories, possessing a fabulous memory, brilliant imagination, and a large human experience, José felt he was obligated to become an author, and started to write novels when he was 22 years old.
The author had his original methods of writing. In the beginning, he would choose the scenarios where the characters would move. Then he would transfer to this place and do rigorous studies there. To write the novel Arara Vermelha, José traveled 450 leagues in the brute wilderness. Next, he builds all the novel, determing even the sentences of the dialogues. He had a memory that, for a long time, allowed him to remember every little detail of his studied scenario. "When the story is entirely made in imagination", reveals the author, "is when I begin to write. I only work I have the impression that the novel is exiting from all the pores of the body."
José relates that after finishing writing the first chapter, he passes to the conclusion of the novel, without even elaborating the plot. "That, he explains "because all the chapters are already produced mentally. It is not really important writing a sequence, like alterating the order. In the end everything goes well". José was a cinemactor and worked in films such as Carteira Modelo 19, Fronteiras do Inferno, Floradas na Serra, Canto do Mar (of which he wrote the screenplay), Na Garganta do Diabo, and A Ilha. He won many prizes, such as the Saci prize to best supporting actor, the Saci prize to the best actor of the year, and the Governo do Estado prize to best actor of the year. His novels Arara Vermelha and Vazante were filmed.
The writer
Although a possessor of a pleasant and light literature, creating a success with the public, the works of José Mauro de Vasconcelos are not properly recognized in BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
.
The French critique Claire Baudewyns affirms that "ce qui confère aux œuvres de José Mauro de Vasconcelos une poésie particulière née de l’alchimie entre monde réel et monde imaginaire." ("what confers to the works of José Mauro de Vasconcelos a particular poetry, is born from the alchemy between the real world and the imaginatory world", in a free translation).http://web.archive.org/web/20060501025059/http://jeunet.univ-lille3.fr/auteurs/vascon03/analyse.htm
He wrote :
- 19421942 in literatureThe year 1942 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*André Gide leaves France to live in Tunis.*Robertson Davies becomes editor of the Peterborough Examiner.*Thomas Mann emigrates to California....
: Banana Brava - 19451945 in literatureThe year 1945 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*November 1 - The magazine Ebony is published for the first time.*Noel Coward's short play, Still Life, is adapted to become the film, Brief Encounter....
: Barro Blanco - 19491949 in literatureThe year 1949 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Arthur C. Clarke becomes Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts.*Bertrand Russell receives the Order of Merit....
: Longe da Terra - 19511951 in literatureThe year 1951 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*E. E. Cummings and Rachel Carson are awarded Guggenheim Fellowships.*Flannery O'Connor is diagnosed with lupus....
: Vazante - 19531953 in literatureThe year 1953 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January 22 - The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, opens on Broadway....
: Arara Vermelha - 19551955 in literatureThe year 1955 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*28 May - Philip Larkin makes a train journey from Hull to London which inspires his poem The Whitsun Weddings....
: Arraia de Fogo - 19621962 in literatureThe year 1962 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 7 - In an article in the New York Times Book Review, Gore Vidal calls Evelyn Waugh "our time's first satirist."...
: Rosinha, Minha Canoa - 19631963 in literatureThe year 1963 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First United States printing of John Cleland's 1749 novel, Fanny Hill . The book is banned for obscenity, triggering a court case by its publisher.*Leslie Charteris publishes his final collection of stories...
: Doidão - 19641964 in literatureThe year 1964 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Jean-Paul Sartre becomes head of the Organization to Defend Iranian Political Prisoners....
: O Garanhão das Praias - 19641964 in literatureThe year 1964 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Jean-Paul Sartre becomes head of the Organization to Defend Iranian Political Prisoners....
: Coração de Vidro - 19661966 in literatureThe year 1966 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 14 - Dissident writers Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky are sentenced to hard labour for "anti-Soviet activity"....
: As Confissões de Frei Abóbora - 19681968 in literatureThe year 1968 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Dean R. Koontz's first novel, Star Quest is published....
: O Meu Pé de Laranja Lima - 19691969 in literatureThe year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Booker Prize is awarded.* "Penelope Ashe", author of the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger, is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in...
: Rua Descalça - 19691969 in literatureThe year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Booker Prize is awarded.* "Penelope Ashe", author of the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger, is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in...
: O Palácio Japonês - 19701970 in literatureThe year 1970 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Deliverance by American poet James Dickey published...
: Farinha Órfã - 19721972 in literatureThe year 1972 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Fiction:*Richard Adams - Watership Down*Jorge Amado - Teresa Batista Cansada da Guerra *Martin Amis - The Rachel Papers...
: Chuva Crioula - 19731973 in literatureThe year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
: O Veleiro de Cristal - 19741974 in literatureThe year 1974 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman.-New books:*Richard Adams - Shardik*Kingsley Amis - Ending Up...
: Vamos Aquecer o Sol - 19751975 in literatureThe year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
: A Ceia - 19781978 in literatureThe year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
: O Menino Invisível - 19791979 in literatureThe year 1979 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*V.C...
: Kuryala: Capitão e Carajá