Amando Fontes

Amando Fontes (born May 15, 1899 in Santos, São Paulo , Brazil , † December 1, 1967 ) was a Brazilian writer and politician.

Life

Amando Fontes' family came from Sergipe . In 1904 the family settled in the local capital, Aracaju . After Fontes graduated from school, he worked as a freelance journalist for some time until he found the opportunity to go to Rio de Janeiro to study medicine.

There Fontes soon made the acquaintance of Jackson de Figueiredo Martin and joined his literary circle. It was in this environment that Fontes began to work literarily and in the following years mainly wrote poetry. Around 1918 he began work on his first novel "Os corumbas". He broke off his medical studies and from that time earned his living as a tax officer. He was later transferred to Salvador da Bahia , the capital of the state of Bahia .

Fontes began to study law in Salvador da Bahia and graduated successfully in 1928. Two years later he was admitted to the bar in Rio de Janeiro. Most of the time he worked on his literary works and made his debut in 1933 with his novel "Os corumbas". Both the public and literary criticism were enthusiastic and he won the Felipe de Oliveira Prize with his debut novel . The writer João Ubaldo Ribeiro commented:

• Poucos livros que sejam tão bem arquitetados como os corumbas. As paisagens sao de colorido largo e absolutamente verdadeiro no seu naturalismo. Nao há uma só falha de realismo ...

Politically committed, Fontes was elected as a member of the state government for several years. In 1937 he was able to publish his second novel "Rua do Siriri", with which, however, he could no longer build on his earlier success. His third and last novel "O deputado Santos Lima" was about to be published in 1967; but this was prevented by the death of the author.

Works

• Os Corumbas. Romance . Olympio, Rio de Janeiro 2003, ISBN 85-03-00800-9 .
• Rua do Siriri . Ed. de Ouro, Rio de Janeiro 2007, ISBN 978-85-00-90760-9 .

literature

• João Ubaldo Ribeiro : Critica 9 . Ed. a Noite, Rio de Janeiro 1952, p. 333.
• Walter R. Toop: Amando Fontes. Time and chronology. In: Luzo-Brazilian Review. Volume 6, No. 1, 1969, pp. 60-84.