Zero

Reading by
Ignácio de Loyola Brandão

Moderation: Rikarde Riedesel
Translation: Michael Kegler

As early as two decades ago Ignácio de Loyola Brandão was guest of the Berleburger Literaturpflaster. The big Brazilian author who made history in literature visits Bad Berleburg in the course of the 20th taking place of the Literaturpflaster.

His two timeless novels "Zero" and "No country like any other" which were translated into German deal with the decline of society. Loyola Brandão plays with language and expresses himself in a distinctive way, a mirror of modern society.

Therefore this reading night means both review and outlook. It takes place in the development department of EJOT and literature can be developed here as well and at the same time it is the first meeting place of the Literaturpflaster. This dichotomy between continuity and change is inherent for literature in general.

It is a very special evening of this year's Berleburger Literaturpflaster.

Further information about Ignácio de Loyola Brandão and Michael Kegler can be found on the internet:
www.ignaciodeloyolabrandao.com
www.michael-kegler.de

Location:
EJOT Applitec (Kurhaus), Unterm Hain 1

Thursday, 10th of October 2013

Beginning:
8 pm

Admission:
4,- € / 2,- €

Ignácio de Loyola Brandão

Ignácio de Loyola Brandão, born on 31 July 1936 in Araraquara, state São Paulo, is a Brazilian writer and journalist.

Ignácio de Loyola Brandão, son of a trainman, began with the age of 17 to write fort he local press. He moved to São Paulo in 1956 to work as a journalist and film reviewer. Loyola Brandão was an editor and employee of different newspapers and magazines (Última Hora, Cláudia). He lived in Berlin in 1981/82 after he had been invited by the DAAD for the Berliner Künstlerprogramm. He attended as a guest the West-Berliner Festivals Horizonte - Festival der Weltkulturen which took place fort he second time in 1982. He is chief editor of the magazine Vogue in Brazil since 1990. Loyola Brandão writes regularly for the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo.

His first volume of stories (Depois do sol) appeared in 1965, his forst novel (Bebel que a cidade comeu) was published in 1968. A dominant theme in Loyola Brandãos` opera is how to live and to survive in the Brazilian megacity São Paulo where most modern life collides with underdevelopment, primitiveness and illiteracy. Loyola Brandão got international fame by his novel "Zero" (Suhrkamp 1979, deutsch von Curt Meyer-Clason) which had been rejected by four Brazilian publishing houses and which was finally published in Italy. This novel is directed openly against the military dictatorship. The story is about Josés, a former law student, who hopes to find the meaning of life in the big town. Although he finds some jobs (ratter, agent) and he gets married he hates the state and the society more and more. He turns to crime – that is why he goes to jail and is tortured. There is hardly a work of recent Brazilian literature that depicts the chaos of the big town more consequently. This applies particularly to the language, the narrative style and the geographical design. Published in Brazil in 1975, the novel was forbidden after the second edition by the Brazilian censorship because it was supposed to "threaten morals and common decency". It is only since 1979 that this novel has been permitted again.

The author's bestseller, the novel Não Verás País Nenhum (Kein Land wie dieses, deutsch 1986 von Ray-Güde Mertin), appeared in 1981. The other works (taken from the Berlin-Bericht O verde violentou o muro (Oh-ja-ja-ja)) of Loyola Brandão have been translated into German only in parts in 1984, just like "Zero. Romance pré-historico (Null. Prähistorischer Roman)" in 1979.

He is member (seat 37) of the Academia Paulista de Letras in São Paulo.

Author profile of
"Ignácio de Loyola Brandão"

No country like any other
by Ray-Güde Mertin

www.fruehjahrsbuchwoche.de/2000/autoren/bran.htm