Luiz Ruffato

Early Works

Ruffato's first published work was the short stories collection Historias de Remorsos e Rancores (1998). Made up of seven short stories, Historias de Remorsos e Rancores was centered in a set of characters from the “beco do Ze” (Ze's alley), in Cataguases, Ruffatos city of origin. The short stories are neither interrelated nor have a chronological order. The only thing that connect them are the poor working class characters, underemployed or in illegal trades such as prostitution. The book was well received by the specialized critique.

In 2000 Ruffato published another collection of short stories, called (os sobreviventes). The book received an honorable mention at the Premio Casa de las Americas in 2001. The book is made of six short stories – “A solucao”, "O segredo", "Carta a uma jovem senhora", “A expiacao”, "Um outro mundo" e “Aquario” – in which all characters are representative of the lower proletariat of, once again, Cataguases. All stories deal with the hardship of life, the suffering of the lower classes and a pervasive lack of hope. The language of the stories explore the spoken vernacular and popular expressions.

Eles eram muitos cavalos (They were many horses)

Ruffato's first novel, eles eram muitos cavalos was published in 2001. It won the prize Trofeu APCA e Premio Machado de Assis for best novel of 2001. With a non linear structure, the book is made of 70 fragments. All fragments happen in the same day (05/09/2000) in the city of Sao Paulo. The novel's title is an allusion to a poem by the Brazilian poet Cecilia Meirelles, called “Dos Cavalos da Inconfidencia”.

The novel's idea came from Ruffato's will to make a tribute to Sao Paulo, the Brazilian metropolis that welcomed so many immigrants like Ruffato himself. The book's (lack of) structure reflects the impossibility of reproducing the complexity and dynamic of the city. The book draws from several social classes and social discourses (including advertising, theatrical etc.) represented in a multiplicity of literary styles (poetry, theater etc.). According to Ruffato, this book is not exactly a novel, but a sort of literary installation and homage to Sao Paulo.

Inferno Provisorio (Temporary Hell)

In 2005 Ruffato started – with the novel Mamma, Son Tanto Felice – a series called "Temporary Hell", made up of five volumes. The series continued withO Mundo Inimigo, published a year later. And, later on, Vista Parcial da Noite (2006), O Livro das Impossibilidades (2008) and Domingos sem Deus (2011).

Ruffato's project was fictionalize the story of the Brazilian working class, from the beginning of the twentieth century to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Each volume deals with a particular moment in the history of Brazilian proletariat. According to Ruffato, in a 2008 interview,:

According to Ruffato, this long project was imagined even before he had published his earlier novels. Glimpses of this narrative appears in his short stories collections. From conception to publication, the series took more than 20 years of work.

Other Works

In 2007 Ruffato was invited to write for the collection “Amores Expressos,” a collection of love stories published by Companhia das Letras, one of Brazil's most important publishing houses. The project send different writer to different cities in the world, where they have to reside and write a love story. Ruffato was invited to travel to Lisbon in Portugal. In 2009 he published the novel Estive em Lisboa e lembrei de voce as the result of his participation in the project. The book tells the story of Sergio, a native of Cataguases, who moves to Lisbon in search of work and as a way to restart his life away from the hardship of his native city. The story tells through the life of Sergio, the drama of many Brazilian immigrants that go to Portugal in search of better conditions of life but end up working lower skill and lower paying jobs.

Ruffato also wrote the poetry collections As mascaras singulares (2002) e Paraguas verdes (2011). He also published an essay about the modernist movement of his native Cataguases, was anthologized in several collections and organized many other anthologies and collections such as 25 mulheres que estao fazendo a nova literatura brasileira (2005) and the short story of Luiz Fernando Emediato (2004).

First Brazilian Editions name

Translations

Awards and Recognitions

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