José Lins do Rego(1901-1957)
- Writer
José Lins do Rego lived his early years in a sugar cane farm owned by
his family. This background was the strongest pillar of his work. He
was born on the 3rd June 1901 in Pilar, a small city in Paraíba,
northeastern state of Brazil. He studied in Pilar, Itabaiana, João
Pessoa and then Recife, where he first got in touch with literature in
1916, when he read "O Ateneu", by Raul Pompéia. He graduated as a
lawyer in 1918. In Recife he met intellectuals like Gilberto Freyre,
José Americo de Almeida, Luis Delgado, Aníbal Fernandes, Osório Borba,
and Olívio Montenegro. He worked as a prosecutor in Minas Gerais where
he got married in 1924. Later and moved to Maceió where he contacts
with literature got bigger once he met, among others, Graciliano Ramos,
Raquel de Queiroz and Aurélio Buarque de Holanda. He wrote his first
book, "Menino de Engenho" in 1932. More than 20 other novels would come
up later, including "Doidinho" (1933), "Bangue" (1934), "Moleque
Ricardo" (1935), "Riacho Doce" (1939) and "Fogo Morto" (1943). Each of
his books was about one aspect of his childhood on the
farm.
