Brazilian writer Rubem Fonseca died Wednesday of a heart attack, his family said. He was 94 years old.
“It was a heart attack. He was at home, he felt bad, he was taken to the hospital (…) He passed out during the trip, they tried to revive him, but he did not survive, “testified his son-in-law Pedro Correa do Lago at the Brazilian news portal UOL.
Born to Portuguese parents on May 11, 1925 in Juiz e Fora, in the State of Minas Gerais, Rubem Fonseca was a novelist, short story writer, screenwriter and film critic.
His raw, dry, erotic style, depicting life in the urban lowlands, earned him to undergo censorship on several occasions during the dictatorship (1964-1985). His first novel, “Le cas Morel” (1973), which includes scenes of violence and sex, had been confiscated by the police, as well as several of his short stories.
The writer, who lived in Rio de Janeiro since his childhood, first studied law, before joining the police and becoming a commissioner in 1952, which influenced his work. The novel “Agosto” (1990), published in French under the title “A Brazilian summer”, is considered to be one of his major works.
The writer, who did not like to give interviews, was awarded the Camoes prize in 2003, the most important prize in the Portuguese language, and the Brazilian Machado de Assis prize in 2015 for all of his work.
ats, dpa
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