Cony, Carlos Heitor 1926–

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Cony, Carlos Heitor 1926–

PERSONAL: Born March 14, 1926, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Education: Attended a seminary; studied philosophy.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Editoria Com-panhia das Letras/Editoria Schwarcs Ltda., Rua Ban-deira Paulista 702, cj 72, Satildeo Paulo 04532-002, Brazil.

CAREER: Writer, journalist. Correio da Manhã newspaper, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, forced to resign, 1964; Folha, newspaper, Satildeo Paulo, Brazil, columnist and member of editorial board. Commentator on Brazilian radio.

AWARDS, HONORS: L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France, 1998; inductee, Academia Brasileira de Letras, 2000.

WRITINGS:

O ventre (title means "The Womb"), Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1958, revised edition, 1987.

Os dez mandamentos, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1959.

Tijolo de segurança: Romance, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1960.

A verdade de cada dia: Romance (title means "Everyday's Truth"), Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1960.

Informação ao crucificado, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1961.

Matéria de memória, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1962.

Da arte de falar mal crônicas, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1963.

O at e o fato: Crônicas políticas, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1964.

Posto 6: Crônicas, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1965.

Antes, o verão: Romance, Porto (Brasília, Brazil), 1966.

Balé branco: Romance, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1966.

Pessach: A travesia (title means "Passover, the Crossing"), Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1967.

64 DC, Tempo Brasileiro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1967.

Chaplin: Ensaio-anologia, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1967.

Quern matou Vargas, Edições Bloch (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1968, published as Quern matou Vargas: 1954, uma tragédia brasileira, Edições Bloch (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1974.

Sôbre tôdas as coisas, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1968.

Pilatos: Romance, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1974.

O casa Lou: Assim é se Ihe parece (title means "The Lou File"), Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1975.

Luciano saudade, Editora Tecnoprint (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1975.

O Planeta Kalgar, Edições de Ouro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1976.

A noite do massacre (Paranóia): Cine-romance (title means "The Night of the Massacre"), Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil),1976, published as Paranoía: A noite do massacre, Ediouro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 2002.

Marina Marina, Edições de Ouro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1978.

Babilônia! Babilônial: Contos, Editôra Cilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1978.

Nos Pasos de João de Deus, Edições Bloch (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1980.

JK, memorial do exilio, Edições Bloch (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1982.

(With Herculano Gomes Mathias) Getúlio Vargas, Ediouro/Grupo Coquetel (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1983.

Orlando Teruz, Painter, Korum Editora (Brazil), 1985.

Antologia escolar de crônicas: 80 crônicas exemplars, Edições de Ouro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1992.

A casa do poeta trágico, Companhia das Letras (São Paulo, Brazil), 1995.

Quase memória: Quase-romance (title means "Almost a Memoir"), Companhia das Letras (São Paulo, Brazil), 1995.

O piano e a orquestra, Companhia das Letras (São Paulo, Brazil), 1996.

Lagoa: História, morfologia e sintaxe, Relume Dumará/Rio Arte (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1996.

O burguês e o crime e outros contos, Ediouro (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1997.

O harêm das bananeiras, RJ/Objetiva (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1997.

Os anos mais antigos do passado: Crônicas, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1998.

Matéria de memória, Companhia das Letras (São Paulo, Brazil), 1998.

Romance sem palavras, Companhia das Letras (São Paulo, Brazil), 1999.

O indigitado, Objetiva (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 2000.

O presidente que sabia javanês, Boitempo (São Paulo, Brazil), 2001.

(With Sergio Lamarão) Wolff Klabin: A trajetória de um pioneiro, FGV Editora (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Brazil), 2001.

(With others) Ficções urbanas, Lazuli Editora (São Paulo, Brazil), 2003.

(With others) Liberdade de expressão, Editora Futura (São Paulo, Brazil), 2003.

Tarde da sua ausência: Romance, Companhia das Letras (São Paulo, Brazil), 2003.

(With Anna Lee) Beijo da morte, RJ/Objetiva (Brazil), 2003.

Revolução dos caranguejos, Companhia das Letras (São Paulo, Brazil), 2004.

Contributor of articles to periodicals, including Manchette.

ADAPTATIONS: Many of Cony's short stories and novels have been adapted for Brazilian television and film. Translator and adaptor of works from English, French, and Spanish.

SIDELIGHTS: Carlos Heitor Cony is a Brazilian author and journalist, author of numerous novels, novellas, short stories, and crônicas, or collections of articles. As Malcolm Silverman noted in World Literature Today, Cony "was never one to be pigeonholed, either personally, professionally, or literally." Cony began his literary career in the mid-1950s with works that, as Silverman further noted, "laid bare the social underbelly of Rio's urban middle class." Following the military coup of 1964, Cony turned his critical attention to the national government, which led to his persecution. His family was threatened and he was forced to leave his newspaper job. For many years he lived under pseudonyms, was jailed six times during the twenty-year reign of the military regime, and was also forced to leave Brazil for a time.

While early novels from Cony, such as O ventre and A verdade de cada dia: Romance, deal with unsuccessful love affairs, later works examine the fallout of the military junta. The 1967 title Pessach: A travesia, for example, features a novelist who joins an urban guerrilla group after 1964. With his 1974 novel, Pilatos: Romance, Cony returns to some of his earlier themes of rejection and pessimism. Silverman found that novel to be "satiric and uniquely outlandish."

It was not until 1995 that Cony returned to the novel form with Quase memória: Quase-romance, a family saga blending fact and fiction and depicting Cony's father. Silverman noted that this work "proves itself to be a harmonious synthesis whose converging styles herald, if not a new Carlos Heitor Cony, then certainly a more mellow and gentler one." Cony sets his O piano e a orquestra in a small Brazilian town. Silverman, again writing for World Literature Today, concluded that this novel was "yet another entertaining and edifying vision of universal foibles, clothed in a tumultuous Brazilian context." With his A casa do poeta trádgico, Cony returned to many of the concerns of his novels from the 1960s. Silverman called the book a "hermetic, psychological novel," in his World Literature Today review. The novel tells of the twenty-year relationship between advertising executive Augusto Richet and a young Italian woman, Francesca, whom he renames Mona. They meet aboard a cruise ship and eventually marry. When they later separate, Mona becomes a successful businesswoman and remarries, while Augusto has become disheartened by their relationship. Silverman concluded that Cony "is at his misanthropic best, somewhat mellowed yet never once compromising his combative instincts, whether clothed in lyrical expression or rare instances of caustic humor."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

World Literature Today, summer, 1996, Malcolm Silverman, review of Quase memória: Quaseromance, p. 678; summer, 1997, Malcolm Silverman, review of O piano e a orquestra, p. 575; summer, 1998, Malcolm Silverman, review of A casa do poeta trágico, p. 599.