Background

Adonias Aguiar Filho was born on November 27, 1915, to Adonias and Rachel Bastos on his family's cacao plantation in the Brazilian municipality of Ilheus.

Education

Adonias attended primary school in Ilheus, and when he was thirteen was sent to the Ginasio Ipiranga in Salvador, the state capital of Bahia. At the school, he began a lifelong friendship with Jorge Amado. When he was nineteen, Filho completed his education. In 1942, he received a bachelor of law degree from the Faculdade de Direito do Distrito Federal (Federal Law School) in Rio de Janeiro.

Career

Adonias began working in journalism, along with writing his own literary work. In 1936 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, and began writing for the papers Correio da Manila and О Jornal, and in 1938 he began translating European literature and writing literary criticism for both newspapers and literary journals.

For a time in the 1950s Adonias Filho served as director of the National Book Institute and worked in the National Theatrical Service. He subsequently became director of the National Library and was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1965. In 1972 he was elected president of the Brazilian Press Association.

By the time he was twenty-one, Filho had already completed a novel, Cachuca ("Rum"). No one ever saw this novel, however, because he destroyed it before showing it to anyone. In Dictionary of Literary Biography, Fred P. Ellison speculated that "Perhaps it was a regional social novel of the type then widely successful, especially as practiced by his lifelong friend Rachel de Quiroz." Filho's first published novel, Os servos da morte ("Servants of Death"), established him as an innovative and important writer.

Filho announced that this book would be the first of a trilogy set in the cacao region, and in 1952 the second volume, Memorias de Lazarus ("Memories of Lazarus") was published.

In 1962, the third volume of the cacao trilogy, Corpo vivo, was published. It was the most successful of his works, and was widely translated and reprinted. Based on sketches dating back to 1938, the book, whose title means "living body" or "body alive," began with a massacre. In this book, Filho's language was lyrical, and the atmosphere was strange and filled with mystery. Ellison noted that the book's poetic language and mysterious setting lend it to mythic interpretation.

О Forte ("The Fort") was set in the state capital, Salvador, in Fort Sao Paolo. Filho began writing shorter pieces after the publication of О Forte, many of them set in the rural, lawless region of Itajuape, where he was born. The stories, like his novels, are filled with barbarism and aggression, but also include hints of hope, progress, and redemption. He also wrote several more novels, also regionally based, with his characteristically rhythmic language and emphasis on common people. He died in Ilhéus on August 2, 1990.

Achievements

• Adonias Filho was a prominent writer who was honored with the 21st chair at the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Academia Brasileira de Letras). The title was handed to him by his fellow writer from Bahia, Jorge Amado. His literary work has been translated into English, German, Spanish, French and Slovak.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The King

    (The story of a Falcon who is guarding his turf, and the h...)

  • Noite sem Madrugada
  • As Velhas
  • O Menino e o Cedro
  • Sul da Bahia. Chao de Cacau
  • O Largo da Palma
  • O Forte
  • Luanda Beira Bahia
  • Noite Sem Madrugada
  • Os Bonecos de Seu Pope
  • A Cuerpo Vivo
  • The man in white

Views

Filho was once asked to what extent a writer should participate in the public life of his country. Filho replied that "what is important is that, rising above fanaticisms and idological dogmas, the writer be a logical thinker in the service of the values of life and of culture, for example liberty."

Connections

In 1944 Adonias married Rosita Galiano, who was from Rio. They would eventually have a daughter, Rachel, and a son, Adonias.

Father:

Adonias Bastos

Mother:

Rachel Bastos

Spouse:

Rosita Galiano

Daughter:

Rachel Filho

Son:

Adonias Filho

Friend:

Jorge Amado

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields: 178