Nationality Brazilian Role Novelist Period 1879–1897 Movies O Cortico | Siblings Artur Azevedo Name Aluisio Azevedo | |
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Born Aluisio Tancredo Goncalves de Azevedo14 April 1857Sao Luis, Maranhao, Brazil ( 1857-04-14 ) Parents Emilia Amalia Pinto de Magalhaes, David Goncalves de Azevedo Books O Cortico, O Mulato, The Slum: A Novel, Mulatto, A Brazilian Tenement Similar People Artur Azevedo, Machado de Assis, Raul Pompeia, Emile Zola, Daphne Patai | ||
Aluísio Tancredo Gonçalves de Azevedo ([ɐˈlwizju tɐ̃ˈkɾedu ɡõˈsaɫviʒ dʒ ɐze̞ˈvedu], 14 April 1857 – 21 January 1913) was a Brazilian novelist, caricaturist, diplomat, playwright and short story writer. Initially a Romantic writer, he would later adhere to the Naturalist movement. He introduced the Naturalist movement in Brazil with the novel O Mulato, in 1881.
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He founded and occupied the 4th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters from 1897 until his death in 1913.
Biography
Azevedo was born in São Luís, to David Gonçalves de Azevedo (the Portuguese vice-consul in Brazil) and Emília Amália Pinto de Magalhães. He was the younger brother of the famous playwright Artur Azevedo.
As a child, Aluísio would work as a traveling salesman. Since then, he loved painting and drawing, and would move to Rio de Janeiro in 1876 (where his brother Artur was living already), to study at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes. After graduating, he drew caricatures for journals such as O Fígaro, O Mequetrefe, Zig-Zag and A Semana Ilustrada.
His father's death, in 1878, made him return to São Luís, in order to take care of his family. He then initiated his writer career, publishing in 1880 a typical Romantic novel, Uma Lágrima de Mulher. He helps on the creation of an anticlerical journal named O Pensador, where he wrote Abolitionist articles. In 1881 he publishes the first Brazilian Naturalist novel ever: O Mulato, that deals with the themes of racism. Consolidating his career as a writer, he could return to Rio.
He would write endlessly during the period of 1882-1895. Dating from this period are his also famous novels Casa de Pensão (1884) and O Cortiço (1890), and many other works written in partnership with his brother, or with Émile Rouède.
In 1895 he became a diplomat. He served as a minister in Spain, Japan, England, Italy and Argentina, where he died.