:Lygia Fagundes Telles

{{Infobox writer

| name = Lygia Fagundes Telles

| image = Lygia Fagundes Telles, sem data (cropped).tif

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Lygia de Azevedo Fagundes

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1918|4|19|df=y}}

| birth_place = São Paulo, Brazil

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|4|3|1918|4|19|df=y}}

| death_place = São Paulo, Brazil

| language = Portuguese

| other_names =

| notable_works = {{Unbulleted list |Ciranda de Pedra (1955) | Antes do Baile Verde (1970) | As Meninas (1973)

}}

| occupation = {{hlist|Novelist| writer}}

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Gofredo Telles Júnior|1947|1960|reason={{abbr|sep.|separated}}}}
{{marriage|Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes|1962|1977|reason=d}}

}}

| children = 1

| signature = Lígia F. Telles auotograph.svg

}}

Lygia Fagundes da Silva Telles ({{née}} de Azevedo Fagundes; {{IPA|pt|ˈliʒiɐ faˈɡũdʒis ˈtɛlis|-}}; 19 April 1918{{Cite web |title=Lygia Fagundes Telles: a centenária que não quis sê-lo |url=https://www.taddone.it/lygia-fagundes-telles-a-centenaria-que-nao-quis-se-lo/ |access-date=2022-04-07 |website=Daniel Taddone |language=pt}} – 3 April 2022), also known as "the lady of Brazilian literature" and "the greatest Brazilian writer" while alive,{{Cite web |last=Lucena |first=Suênio Campos de |date=2008 |title=Alguns temas em Lygia Fagundes Telles |url=https://www.seer.ufs.br/index.php/interdisciplinar/article/view/1120/958 |publisher=Federal University of Sergipe}} was a Brazilian novelist and writer, considered by academics, critics and readers to be one of the most important and notable Brazilian writers in the 20th century and the history of Brazilian literature.{{Cite book |url=https://www.travessa.com.br/antologia-meus-contos-preferidos/artigo/ce5c2710-fe5a-47d0-b831-6171e21ee386 |title=Antologia: meus contos preferidos |language=pt-br}}{{Cite web |date=2017-08-14 |title=Antologia: Meus Contos Preferidos - Livros |url=http://livraria.folha.com.br/livros/lygia-fagundes-telles/antologia-contos-preferidos-lygia-fagundes-1014135.html |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=Livraria da Folha|archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20170814174035/http://livraria.folha.com.br/livros/lygia-fagundes-telles/antologia-contos-preferidos-lygia-fagundes-1014135.html |archive-date=14 August 2017 }} In addition to being a lawyer, Lygia was widely represented in postmodernism, and her works portrayed classic and universal themes such as death, love, fear and madness, as well as fantasy.{{Cite web |title=Lygia Fagundes Telles, testemunha literária |url=https://www.estadao.com.br/cultura/lygia-fagundes-telles-testemunha-literaria-imp-/ |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=Estadão |language=pt-br}}

Born in São Paulo, and educated as a lawyer, she began publishing soon after she completed high school and simultaneously worked as a solicitor and writer throughout most of her career. She was elected as the third woman in the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1985 and held Chair 16. She was a recipient of the Camões Prize, the highest literary award of the Portuguese language and her works have received honors and awards from Brazil, Chile and France. Winner of all important literary awards in Brazil, honored nationally and internationally, in 2016, at the age of 98, she became the first Brazilian woman to be nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature.{{Cite web |date=2016-02-03 |title=Lygia Fagundes Telles é indicada para o Prêmio Nobel de Literatura |url=https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/educacao/noticia/2016-02/lygia-fagundes-telles-e-indicada-para-o-premio-nobel-de-literatura#:~:text=A%20indica%C3%A7%C3%A3o,%20por%20unanimidade,%20foi,Goyos,%20em%20comunicado%20%C3%A0%20imprensa. |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=Agência Brasil |language=pt-br}}

Early life

Lygia Fagundes was born on 19 April 1918 in São Paulo, Brazil, to Maria do Rosário da Silva Jardim de Moura and Durval de Azevedo Fagundes.{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=67}}{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}} Her father was an attorney and public prosecutor who also served as a district attorney, commissioner of police and a judge.{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}}{{sfn|Erro-Peralta|Silva|2000|p=46}} Her mother, known as Zazita, was a pianist.{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}} Because of the nature of her father's work, the family moved often throughout the state, living at various times in Apiaí, Assis, Itatinga and Sertãozinho. When she was eight years old, Fagundes moved with her mother to Rio de Janeiro, where they remained for five years.{{sfn|Instituto Cultural Itaú|2017}} Returning to São Paulo, she enrolled in Caetano de Campos School, and graduated in 1937. With proceeds from her father, in 1938, she published Porões e Sobrados (Grounds and Townhouses), a collection of short stories.{{sfn|Instituto Cultural Itaú|2017}}{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=68}}

In 1939, Fagundes graduated with her pre-law and physical education degrees from the University of São Paulo (USP). In 1941, she enrolled in the Law School at USP ({{langx|pt|Faculdade de Direito do Largo de São Francisco}}){{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=67}}{{sfn|Instituto Cultural Itaú|2017}} as one of only six women students in a class of over one hundred men.{{sfn|Ruy|2013}} Simultaneously, she began working for the government, with the Secretary of Agriculture, as well as writing her second book of short stories, Praia Viva (Living Beach), which she published in 1944. The following year, she graduated with her law degree and in 1947, married her international law professor, Goffredo Telles Jr.{{sfn|Instituto Cultural Itaú|2017}} The couple would have their only child, Goffredo da Silva Telles Neto in 1952.{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=67}}{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}}

Career

File:Lygia Fagundes Telles em 1945.jpg

Telles continued to work in civil service and became a collaborator with A Manhã (The Morning), writing a weekly column for the journal located in Rio.{{sfn|Instituto Cultural Itaú|2017}} In 1949 she received the Afonso Arinos award from the Brazilian Academy of Letters for O Cacto Vermelho (Red Cactus), a book of short stories.{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=69}} Among her most successful books is Ciranda de Pedra (The Marble Dance) (1954 reprinted in 1986), which deals with women's sexuality.{{sfn|Erro-Peralta|Silva|2000|p=46}} Telles felt that it was the first work she had produced that marked her maturity as a writer, often criticizing her earlier works.{{sfn|Ruy|2013}} In 1958, she published Histórias do Desencontro (Uncontrollable Stories) which won the prize of the {{ill|National Book Institute (Brazil)|lt=National Book Institute|pt|Instituto Nacional do Livro}}.{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=70}} In 1960, Telles divorced,{{sfn|Instituto Cultural Itaú|2017}} and the following year began working as a solicitor for the Institute of Providence ({{langx|pt|Instituto de Providência}}) of the State of São Paulo. She would work in this office and continue her publishing efforts simultaneously until 1991.{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=67}} In 1962, she married, the film critic and writer {{ill|Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes|pt}}, though as divorce was not technically recognized in Brazil at that time, their partnership was considered socially unacceptable.{{sfn|Ruy|2013}}

Telles continued writing in the following decades, such works as: Verão no Aquário (Summer at the Aquarium, 1963),{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=70}} which won the Jabuti Prize in 1965;{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}} Capitu (1967, published 1993) a cinematic script co-written with her husband Gomes based upon Machado de Assis' work Dom Casmurro, which won the Candango Award for best screenplay in 1969;{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=72}}{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}}{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=72}} Antes do Baile Verde (Before the Green Ball, 1970), which won the Best Foreign Women Writers Grand Prix in Cannes (France) in 1969;{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}}{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=72}} As Meninas (The Girls, 1973; The Girl in the Photograph, 2012), which received multiple awards, including the Jabuti Prize, the Coelho Neto Prize of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and the Best Fiction Award from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics;{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}} Seminário dos Ratos (Seminary of the Rats, 1977), which would win the award for best short story from the Pen Club of Brazil that same year;{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}}{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=73}} A Disciplina do Amor (The Discipline of Love, 1980), which won her another Jabuti Prize, as well as the São Paulo Association of Art Critics Award;{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}}{{sfn|Lamas|2004|pp=75–75}} and As Horas Nuas, (Naked Hours, 1989), which won the "Book of the Year" and was honored with the Prêmio Pedro Nava.{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=76}}

File:Lygia Fagundes Telles - MinC (7) cropped.jpg

Telles' most acclaimed novel, As Meninas, tells the story of three young women in the early 1970s, a difficult time in the political history of Brazil due to the repression by the military dictatorship.{{sfn|Lamas|2004|pp=72–73}} She was among intellectuals who went to Brasília in 1977, to deliver the Manifesto of the Thousand ({{langx|pt|Manifesto dos Mil}}).{{sfn|Instituto Cultural Itaú|2017}} The protest was the largest demonstration of intellectuals since the press censorship instituted by president/dictator Emílio Garrastazu Médici began in 1968. She led the delegation, composed of historian {{ill|Hélio Silva (journalist)|lt=Hélio Silva|pt|Hélio Silva (journalist)}} and the writers Nélida Piñon and Jefferson Ribeiro de Andrade to present the signed petition to Armando Falcão, the Justice Minister in the cabinet of President Ernesto Geisel.{{sfn|Folha de S.Paulo|1994}} Later that same year, her husband, Gomes would die.{{sfn|Instituto Cultural Itaú|2017}}{{sfn|Ruy|2013}} On 24 October 1985, Telles was elected to hold Chair 16, of the Brazilian Academy of Letters,{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}}{{sfn|Instituto Cultural Itaú|2017}} the third woman ever to be elected to a chair.{{sfn|Ruy|2013}} After her retirement from the Institute of Providence in 1991,{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=67}} she continued publishing works such as A Noite Escura e Mais Eu (The Dark Night and More Me, 1995), which won the Arthur Azevedo Prize from the National Library of Brazil;{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=77}} Oito contos de amor (Eight Tales of Love, 1996); Invenção e Memória (Invention and Memory, 2001), which earned her the Jabuti Prize, a parallel honor as Book of the Year, and the Grand Prize of the Critic of the Best of 2000 from the São Paulo Association of Art Critics;{{sfn|Lamas|2004|p=80}} Durante Aquele Estranho Chá (During the Strange Tea, 2002); Conspiração de Nuvens (Cloud Compromise, 2007), which won the São Paulo Association of Art Critics Prize;{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}} and Passaporte para a China (Passport to China, 2011).{{sfn|Ruy|2013}}

File:Inauguração da Fachada do Edifício da Academia Paulista de Letras (24028649988).jpg

In 1985, Telles was honored as a commander in the Order of Rio Branco by the government of Brazil. In 1998, she was awarded the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in the grade of chevalier and was honored as a grand officer of the Gabriela Mistral Order of Educational and Cultural Merit from Chile.{{sfn|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}} In 2005 Telles won the Camões Prize, the highest literary award of the Portuguese language for her body of works.{{sfn|Ruy|2013}}{{sfn|Suplemento do JL|2005}} As of 2013, she was one of the four female members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. Her books have been translated into Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish, Swedish, and been reprinted in multiple editions in Portuguese.{{sfn|Ruy|2013}} She was nominated for the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature by the Brazilian Writers' Union.{{sfn|Globo|2016}}

Death

Telles died on 3 April 2022 in São Paulo from natural causes, aged 103.{{Cite web |title=Escritora Lygia Fagundes Telles morre aos 98 anos em SP |url=https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2022/04/03/escritora-lygia-fagundes-telles-morre-aos-98-anos.ghtml |access-date=2022-04-03 |website=G1 |date=3 April 2022 |language=pt-br}}{{Cite web | url=https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/nacional/morre-a-escritora-lygia-fagundes-telles-academica-da-abl-aos-98-anos/ | title=Morre a escritora Lygia Fagundes Telles, acadêmica da ABL, aos 98 anos }}{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/04/books/lygia-fagundes-telles-dead.html | title=Lygia Fagundes Telles, Popular Brazilian Novelist, Dies at 98 | newspaper=The New York Times | date=4 April 2022 | last1=Astor | first1=Michael }}{{Cite web |title=Lygia Fagundes Telles tinha 103 anos ao morrer, não 98, revela documento; ABL diz que 'escritora preferia manter a discrição' |trans-title=Lygia Fagundes Telles was 103 years old when she died, not 98, reveals document; ABL says 'writer preferred to keep a low profile' |url=https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2022/04/07/lygia-fagundes-telles-tinha-103-anos-ao-morrer-nao-98-revela-documento-abl-diz-que-escritora-preferia-manter-a-discricao.ghtml |access-date=2022-04-09 |website=G1 |date=7 April 2022 |language=pt-br}} A public wake was held at the Academia Paulista de Letras and her body was cremated the following day at Vila Alpina Cemetery in São Paulo.{{cite web|url=https://g1.globo.com/sp/sao-paulo/noticia/2022/04/04/corpo-da-escritora-e-academica-lygia-fagundes-telles-e-cremado-em-sp.ghtml|title=Corpo da escritora e acadêmica Lygia Fagundes Telles é cremado em SP|publisher=Globo|accessdate=April 14, 2022|date=April 4, 2022|language=Portuguese}} Governor of São Paulo Rodrigo Garcia declared three days of mourning in the state.{{cite web|url=https://diariodopoder.com.br/brasil-e-regioes/governador-decreta-luto-de-tres-dias-pela-morte-da-escritora-lygia-fagundes|title=SP decreta luto de três dias pela morte da escritora Lygia Fagundes|publisher=Diario Dopoder|accessdate=April 14, 2022|date=April 3, 2022|language=Portuguese}}

References

=Citations=

=Bibliography=

{{cite book |editor1-last=Erro-Peralta |editor1-first=Nora |editor2-last=Silva |editor2-first=Caridad |title=Beyond the Border: A new age in Latin American women's fiction |date=2000 |publisher=University Press of Florida |location=Gainesville, Florida |isbn=0-8130-1785-8 |edition=Revised |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813017853/page/46 |chapter=Lygia Fagundes Telles |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780813017853/page/46 46–47]}}
{{cite book |last1=Instituto Cultural Itaú |title=Enciclopédia Itaú Cultural de Arte e Cultura Brasileiras |date=2017 |publisher=Itaú Cultural |location=São Paulo, Brazil |isbn=978-85-7979-060-7 |url=http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa6011/lygia-fagundes-telles |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223212622/http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa6011/lygia-fagundes-telles |archive-date=23 December 2016 |language=pt |chapter=Lygia Fagundes Telles}}
{{cite book |last1=Lamas |first1=Berenice Sica |title=O duplo em Lygia Fagundes Telles: um estudo em literatura e psicologia |date=2004 |publisher=EDIPUCRS |location=Porto Alegre, Brasil |isbn=978-85-7430-439-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1mWNLHq2n9wC&pg=PA67 |language=pt |trans-title=The duplicate in Lygia Fagundes Telles: a study in literature and psychology}}
{{cite news |last1=Ruy |first1=José Carlos |title=Lygia Fagundes Telles: escrever é meu ofício |url=http://www.sermosgaliza.gal/articulo/cultura/lygia-fagundes-telles-escrever-e-meu-oficio/20130420184435013983.html |access-date=29 August 2017 |publisher=Sermos Galiza |date=20 April 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829194550/http://www.sermosgaliza.gal/articulo/cultura/lygia-fagundes-telles-escrever-e-meu-oficio/20130420184435013983.html |archive-date=29 August 2017 |location=Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain |language=pt |trans-title=Lygia Fagundes Telles: writing is my craft}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Brazilian Academy of Letters|2016}}|author=|title=Biografia: Lygia Fagundes Telles|url=http://www.academia.org.br/academicos/lygia-fagundes-telles/biografia|website=Academia Brasileira de Letras|publisher=Brazilian Academy of Letters|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819191301/http://www.academia.org.br/academicos/lygia-fagundes-telles/biografia|archive-date=19 August 2016|location=Rio de Janeiro, Brazil|language=pt|date=12 April 2016|trans-title=Biography: Lygia Fagundes Telles}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Globo|2016}}|author=|title=Lygia Fagundes Telles é indicada ao Nobel de Literatura|url=http://g1.globo.com/pop-arte/noticia/2016/02/lygia-fagundes-telles-e-indicada-ao-nobel-de-literatura.html|access-date=29 August 2017|publisher=Globo1|date=3 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027165046/http://g1.globo.com/pop-arte/noticia/2016/02/lygia-fagundes-telles-e-indicada-ao-nobel-de-literatura.html|archive-date=27 October 2016|location=São Paulo, Brazil|language=pt|trans-title=Lygia Fagundes Telles is nominated for a Nobel Prize in Literature}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Folha de S.Paulo|1994}}|author=|title='Manifesto dos Intelectuais' pediu o fim da censura em janeiro de 77|url=http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/1994/4/03/brasil/27.html|access-date=29 August 2017|newspaper=Folha de S.Paulo|date=3 April 1994|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829220903/http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/1994/4/03/brasil/27.html|archive-date=29 August 2017|location=São Paulo, Brazil|language=pt|trans-title='Manifesto of the Intellectuals' asked for the end of the censorship in January of 77}}
{{cite journal |ref={{harvid|Suplemento do JL|2005}}|author=|title=Prémio Camões 2005|url=http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/encarte/encarte87b.htm|journal=Suplemento do JL|volume=XXV|issue=87|publisher=Instituto Camões|access-date=29 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008082047/http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/encarte/encarte87b.htm|archive-date=8 October 2016|location=São Paulo, Brazil|language=pt|date=21 June 2005|trans-title=Camões Prize 2005|url-status=dead}}

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20141225233507/http://www.agenciariff.com.br/autores/default.asp?filtro=&cod=Lygia%20FAGUNDES%20TELLES&menu=%2FAutores Bio details, Autores Brasileiros]
[https://www.loc.gov/item/93842539/Lygia Fagundes Telles reads from her own work (1983)]

{{s-ttl|title=4th Academic of the 16th chair of the
Brazilian Academy of Letters|years=1987–2022}}

Category:1918 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:Brazilian women short story writers

Category:Brazilian science fiction writers

Category:Women science fiction and fantasy writers

Category:Brazilian women novelists

Category:Members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters

Category:University of São Paulo alumni

Category:Writers from São Paulo

Category:Camões Prize winners

Category:20th-century Brazilian women writers