Editing Erico Verissimo

{{short description|Brazilian writer}}
{{Other uses|Verissimo (disambiguation)}}{{expand Portuguese|topic=bio|date=August 2018}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2025}}{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name        = Érico Lopes Verissimo
| image       = Retrato-erico-revista-do-globo-reproducao.jpg
| imagesize   = 200px
| caption     = Verissimo in 1940
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1905|12|17}}
| birth_place = [[Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul|Cruz Alta]]
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1975|11|28|1905|12|17}}
| death_place = [[Porto Alegre]]
| occupation  = novelist, short story writer
| nationality = [[Brazilian people|Brazilian]]
| period      = 1933-1975
| movement    = [[Modernism|Modernist]]
| children    = [[Luis Fernando Verissimo]]
}}
'''Érico Lopes Verissimo''' (December 17, 1905 – November 28, 1975) was an important Brazilian writer, born in the State of [[Rio Grande do Sul]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Érico Lopes Veríssimo {{!}} Modernist literature, Brazilian novelist, short stories {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Erico-Lopes-Verissimo |access-date=2025-04-06 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Biography==
Érico Verissimo was the son of Sebastião Verissimo da Fonseca and Abegahy Lopes Verissimo. His father, heir of a rich family in [[Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul|Cruz Alta]], met financial ruin during his son's youth and, as a result, Erico didn't complete [[secondary school]] because of the need to work.

Verissimo settled in [[Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul|Cruz Alta]] as the owner of a [[Pharmacy|drugstore]], but was unsuccessful. He then moved to [[Porto Alegre]] in 1930, willing to live solely by selling his writing. There he began to live around writers of renown, such as [[Mário Quintana]], [[Augusto Meyer]], [[Guilhermino César]] and others. In the following year, he was hired to occupy the position of secretary of edition of the ''[[Revista do Globo]]'', of which he would become editor in 1933. He then undertook the whole editorial project at [[Editora Globo]], propelling its nationwide fame.

He published his first work, ''Fantoches'' ("Puppets"), in 1932, with a sequence of [[short stories]], mostly in the form of short [[Play (theatre)|plays]]. The following year, he saw his first great success with the [[Romance novel|romance]] ''Clarissa''.

Verissimo married in 1931 to Mafalda Volpe and had two children, [[Luis Fernando Verissimo]], also a writer, and Clarissa.

In 1943  he moved with his family to the United States, where he gave lessons on [[Brazilian Literature]] in the [[University of California-Berkeley]], until 1945. Between 1953 and 1956 he was director of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the [[Organization of American States]], in [[Washington, D.C.]] This period of his life was recorded in some of his books, including: ''Gato Preto em Campo de Neve'' ("Black Cat in a Snow Field"), ''A Volta do Gato Preto'' ("The Return of the Black Cat"), and ''História da Literatura Brasileira'' ("History of Brazilian Literature"), which contains some of his lectures at [[University of California, Los Angeles|UCLA]]. His epic ''[[O Tempo e o Vento]]'' ("The Time and the Wind'") became one of the great masterpieces of the Brazilian novel, alongside ''[[Os Sertões]]'' by [[Euclides da Cunha]], and ''[[Grande Sertão: Veredas]]'' by [[Guimarães Rosa]].

His [[Historical novel|historical trilogy]] ''[[O Tempo e o Vento]]'' ("The Time and the Wind") is considered as his [[Masterpiece|greatest work]], written in the period of 1949-1961, from which arose primordial characters such as ''Ana Terra'' and ''Capitão Rodrigo'' that went on to become popular amongst his readers. Four of his, ''Time and the Wind'', ''Night'', ''Mexico'', and ''[[His Excellency, the Ambassador]]'', were translated into the English language by [[Linton Lomas Barrett]].

In 1965 Verissimo published the romance ''O Senhor Embaixador'' ("His Excellency, the Ambassador"), in which he reflected upon the deviations of [[Latin America]].

In the romance ''Incidente em Antares'' ("Incident in Antares"), written in 1971, he traces a parallel with [[Brazilian politics]] with the use of [[fantasy]], with the rebellion of corpses during a strike of the gravekeepers, in the fictitious city of Antares.

After suffering from a [[heart attack]] in 1975, Verissimo was unable to complete the second volume of his [[autobiography]] entitled ''Solo de Clarineta'' ("Clarinet Solo"), which was intended to be a trilogy, apart from a romance which would be entitled ''A Hora do Sétimo Anjo'' ("The Hour of the Seventh Angel").

He was the father of another famous writer of Rio Grande do Sul, [[Luis Fernando Verissimo]].

==Works==
His works have been compiled on three occasions:
*''Obras de Erico Verissimo'' ("Works of Érico Veríssimo") – 1956 (17 volumes)
*''Obras completas'' ("Complete Works") – 1961 (10 volumes)
*''Ficção completa'' ("Complete Fiction")– 1966 (5 volumes)

Érico Verissimo's books have been translated to German, Spanish, Finnish, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Indonesian, English, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Romanian, Russian and Czech.
{{div col}}
'''Short stories'''
*''Fantoches'' ("Puppets")
*''As mãos de meu filho'' ("My Son's Hands")
*''O ataque'' ("The Attack")
*''Os devaneios do general'' ("The reveries of the general")

'''Novels'''
*''Clarissa'' – 1933
*''Caminhos Cruzados'' ("Crossed Paths") – 1935
*''Música ao Longe'' ("Music From Afar") – 1936
*''Um Lugar ao Sol'' ("A Place in the Sun")– 1936
*''Olhai os Lírios do Campo'' ("Behold the Lilies of the Field")– 1938
*''Saga'' – 1940
*''O Resto É Silêncio|'' ("The Rest is Silence") – 1943
*''[[O Tempo e o Vento]]'' (The Time and the Wind"):
**''O continente'' ("The Continent") – 1949
**''O Retrato'' ("The Portrait") – 1951
**''O Arquipélago ("The Archipelago") – 1961
*''[[Noite]]'' ("Night") - 1954 (the versions published in Portugal contain also "A Sonata" ("The Sonata"), a short story written by a solitary music teacher, that sees himself transported to the past, to the year of his birth, where he falls in love for a beautiful woman)
*''[[O Senhor Embaixador]]'' ("His Majesty, the Ambassador") – 1965
*''O Prisoneiro'' ("The Prisoner") – 1967
*''Incidente em Antares'' ("Incident in Antares") – 1971

'''Children's literature'''
*''A vida de Joana d'Arc'' – 1935
*''[[As Aventuras do Avião Vermelho]]'' – 1936
*''Os Três Porquinhos Pobres'' – 1936
*''Rosa Maria no Castelo Encantado'' – 1936
*''Meu ABC'' – 1936
*''As Aventuras de Tibicuera'' – 1937
*''O Urso com Música na Barriga'' – 1938
*''A Vida do Elefante Basílio'' – 1939
*''Outra vez os três porquinhos'' – 1939
*''Viagem à aurora do mundo'' – 1939
*''Aventuras no mundo da higiene'' – 1939
*''Gente e bichos'' – 1956

'''Travel literature'''
*''Gato Preto em Campo de Neve'' – 1941
*''A Volta do Gato Preto'' – 1946
*''México'' – 1957
*''Israel em Abril'' – 1969

'''Autobiographies'''
*''O escritor diante do espelho'' – 1966 (in "Ficção Completa")
*''Solo de Clarineta'' – Memórias (Volume I) – 1973
*''Solo de clarineta'' – Memórias (Volume II) – 1976 (posthumous edition, organized by Flávio L. Chaves)

'''Essays'''
*''Brazilian Literature: an Outline'' – 1945
*''Mundo velho sem porteira'' – 1973
*''Breve história da literatura brasileira''

'''Biographies'''
*''Um certo Henrique Bertaso'' – 1972

'''Translations'''
:<small>'''Novels'''</small>
*''The Ringer'', by [[Edgar Wallace]] – 1931
*''The Crimson Circle'', by Edgar Wallace – 1931
*''The Door with Seven Locks'', by Edgar Wallace – 1931
*''Jahrgang 1902'', by [[Ernst Glaeser]] – 1933
*''[[Point Counter Point]]'', by [[Aldous Huxley]] – 1934
*''[[Little Man, What Now? (novel)|Kleiner Mann, Was nun?]]'', by [[Hans Fallada]] – 1937
*''[[We Are Not Alone (novel)|We Are Not Alone]]'', by [[James Hilton (novelist)|James Hilton]] – 1940
*''[[Goodbye Mr. Chips]]'', by James Hilton – 1940
*''[[Of Mice and Men]]'', by [[John Steinbeck]] – 1940
*''[[Portrait of Jennie]]'', by [[Robert Nathan]] – 1942
*''[[They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (novel)|They Shoot Horses, Don't They?]]'', by [[Horace McCoy]] – 1947
*''Then and Now'', by [[Somerset Maugham]] – 1948
*''The Clue of the New Pin''), by Edgar Wallace – 1956

:<small>'''Short Stories'''</small>
*''[[Psychology (short story)|''Psychology'']]'', by [[Katherine Mansfield]] – 1939 (Revista do Globo)
*''[[Bliss (short story)|Bliss]]'', by Katherine Mansfield – 1940
*''[[Her First Ball]]'', by Katherine Mansfield – 1940 (Revista do Globo)
{{div col end}}

==Awards==

* Machado de Assis Prize, from Cia. Editora Nacional, in 1934, for ''Music from afar''
* Graça Aranha Foundation Award for ''Crossed Paths''
* Title Doctor ''Honoris Causa'', in 1944, from [[Mills College at Northeastern University|Mills College]], in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], California, where he taught [[Brazilian literature|Brazilian Literature]] and History
* [[Prêmio Machado de Assis|Machado de Assis Prize]], in 1954, awarded by the [[Academia Brasileira de Letras|Brazilian Academy of Letters]], for his entire body of work
* Title of Citizen of [[Porto Alegre]], in 1964, granted by the City Council of that city
* [[Prêmio Jabuti|Jabuti Award]] - Romance Category, from the Brazilian Chamber of Books, in 1965, for the book ''O Senhor Ambassador''
* Intellectual of the Year Award (Troféu Juca Pato), in 1968, awarded by [[Folha de S.Paulo]] and the Brazilian Union of Writers
* Additional Grand Cross of the [[Order of Rio Branco]], granted by President [[Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva]] in 2005 (posthumous)

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.soundsandcolours.com/articles/brazil/the-rise-of-modern-literature-in-southern-brazil/ The Rise of Modern Literature in Southern Brazil] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822072257/http://www.soundsandcolours.com/articles/brazil/the-rise-of-modern-literature-in-southern-brazil/ |date=2010-08-22 }}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verissimo, Erico}}
[[Category:1905 births]]
[[Category:1975 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Cruz Alta, Rio Grande do Sul]]
[[Category:Culture in Rio Grande do Sul]]
[[Category:Brazilian people of Italian descent]]
[[Category:Brazilian people of Portuguese descent]]
[[Category:Brazilian agnostics]]
[[Category:Brazilian male novelists]]
[[Category:Brazilian male short story writers]]
[[Category:English–Portuguese translators]]
[[Category:20th-century Brazilian translators]]
[[Category:20th-century Brazilian novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Brazilian short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century Brazilian essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century Brazilian male writers]]