Nélida Piñon (1937–2022)

Neste seu “Livro das Horas”, a autora narra fragmentos de sua infância, mocidade e idade adulta. Fala de seu encontra pela música clássica, a atração pela literatura e os desafios da escrita. Escreve com igual paixão sobre o Brasil e a Galícia, terra natal de seus pais para onde viajou com frequência.

“Livro das Horas” traz muitas reflexões sobre amizades, vida e morte. E, repetidas vezes, faz declarações de amor e devoção a Gravetinho, um pinscher adotado que morreu aos show more 11 anos em 2017. Nélida Piñon faleceu em dezembro de 2022 com 85 anos, e foi sepultada no mausoléu da Academia Brasileira de Letras (cemitério São João Batista), ao lado do corpo de sua mãe, Olivia Carmen Cuiñas Piñon, e das cinzas de Gravetinho.

Primeira mulher a presidir a Academia Brasileira de Letras, Nélida Piñon, deixou quatro apartamentos de luxo à beira da lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas como “herança” para suas cachorras Suzy, de 13 anos, e Pilara, de 3. Para nós, leitores, fica como legado sua obra extraordinária. show less

Attempted Midnight Seduction?
A review of the Fario Kindle eBook (2012) translated by [author:Juan LePuen|7562771] from the Portuguese (Brazilian) language original short story [book:Missa do Galo|11476266] (1894) first collected in [book:Páginas Recolhidas|18243366] (Collected Pages) (1899).

Missa da Galo (Portuguese: Midnight Mass aka The Rooster's Mass) is a revered story in Brazilian literature and is often cited as the popular favourite of all of Machado de Assis' short stories. It is so show more revered that in [book:Missa do Galo - Variações Sobre o Mesmo Tema|25534924] (Midnight Mass - Variations on the Same Theme) (1977), later 20th century Brazilian authors wrote 6 different versions of it in a tribute.

Rural 17-year-old Nogueira is boarding with the family of a distant relative while going to school in Rio de Janeiro. The man of the house cheats on his wife by using the euphemism of weekly excursions to the "theatre." Nogueira is planning to go to the Christmas Eve midnight mass with a neighbour and in order to keep himself awake is reading Dumas' [book:The Three Musketeers|10916717] (1844). 30-year-old Conceição, the wife in the household, joins him and makes conversation. Nogueira, while observing Conceição's bare arms and negligee, is seemingly oblivious to what might be going on. He is writing the story many years later and still propounds that he doesn't understand what happened.

I can see why the story is so admired. You can make several different scenarios about it. Is Nogueira really a reliable narrator? Is he writing a purposely naïve version in order to portray his youthful innocence? Is he actually this naïve even as an adult? Or did something entirely different take place and this is now the cover story? The reader can imagine all sorts of other reasons and events from the version as stated.

This is part of my continuing investigation into the short stories of Machado de Assis. Previously i had read [book:Holidays|20869939] (1906) and [book:O Caso da Vara|12621387] (1891).

Trivia and Links
Machado de Assis (1839-1908) is considered to be one of Brazil's great writers and his often used metafiction style was ahead of its time. His most popular novels are Dom Casmurro (1899) and The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (1881).

The works of Machado de Assis are in the Public Domain in their original Brazilian Portuguese and can be found online at various sources such as Machado de Assis. net and Project Gutenberg. With web translator you can even produce your own translations as desired.

You can read the original Brazilian Portuguese version of Missa do Galo here. show less

PRATELEIRA EUNICE 1 LIVRO 9
Na véspera da final da Copa do Mundo de 70, Caetana, uma atriz de circo, volta à sua pequena cidade após vinte anos. Em seu regresso, reencontra um rico fazendeiro que fora seu amante e a quem abandonara sem dar satisfações. Para o reencontro, ele prepara uma festa.

Monumental narrativa... Personagens muito bem construídas... A república dos sonhos eleva nossa prosa de ficção e emerge como um momento