Trevisan, Dalton 1925–

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Trevisan, Dalton 1925–

PERSONAL: Born June 14, 1925, in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. Education: Faculdade de Direito do Paraná.

ADDRESSES: Home—Curitiba, Brazil. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Editora Record, Russians Argentina 171, Sao Cristovao, CEP 20.921-380, Argentina.

CAREER: Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Instituto Nacional do Livro prize, 1959, for Novelas Nada Exemplares; Jabuti prize, and Câmara Brasileira do Livro, both 1959, both for Novelas Nada Exemplares, 1962, for Cemitério de Elefantes; Fernando Chinaglia prize, União Brasileira dos Escritores, 1962, for Cemitãrio de Elefantes; Luís Cláudio de Sousa prize, Pen Clud do Brasil, 1964, for Morte na Praça, Ministério da cultura de Literatura prize, 1996, for body of work.

WRITINGS:

Sonata ao Luar, Gráfica Mundial (Curitiba, Brazil), 1945.

Sete Anos de Pastor, Edições Joaquim (Curitiba, Brazil), 1948.

Novelas Nada Exemplares, J. Olympio (rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1959.

Noites de Amore m Granada, Editora Rcord (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1963.

Cemitério de Elefantes, Editora Civilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1964.

Morte na Praça, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1964.

O Vampiro de Curitiba (short stories), Editora Civilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1965, translation by Gregory Rabassa published as The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, Knopf (New York, NY), 1972.

Mistérios de Curitiba, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1968.

Os 18 Melhores Contos do Brasil, Editora Bloch (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1968.

Desastres do Amor, Editora Civilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1969.

A Guerra Conjugal, Editora Civilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1969.

O Rei da Terra, Editora Civilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1972.

Pássaro de Cinca Asas, Editora Civilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1974.

A Faca no Coração Editora Civilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1975.

Abismo de Rosas, Editora Civilização Brasileira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1976.

A Trombeta do Anjo Vingador, Editora Codecri (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1977.

Crimes de Paixão, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1978.

Vinte Contos Menores, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1979.

Primeiro Livro de Contos: Antologia Pessoal, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1979.

Virgem Louca, Loucos Beijos, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1979.

Lincha Tarado, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1980.

Chorinho Brejeiro, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1981.

Essas Malditas Mulheres, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1982.

Meu Querido Assassino, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1983.

Contos Eróticos, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1984.

A Polaquinha, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1985.

Pão e Sangue, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1988.

Vozes do Retrato: Quinze Histórias de MEntiras e Verdades, Editora Atica (São Paulo, Brazil), 1991.

Em Busca de Curitiba Perdida, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1992.

Ah é?: Ministórias, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1994.

Dinorá, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1994.

234 Ministórias, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1997.

Quem Tem Medo de Vampiro?, Editora Atica (São Paulo, Brazil), 1998.

O Grande Deflorador: e Outros Contos Escolhidos, L&PM (Porto Alegre, Brazil), 2000.

111 Ais, L&PM (Porto Alegre, Brazil), 2001.

Picona Veia, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 2002.

Capitu sou eu, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 2003.

Arara Bêbada: Ministórias Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 2004.

Rita Ritinha Ritona, Editora Record (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 2005.

Also author of 77 Ais, privately published. Short stories included in Dalto Trevisan, edited by Alvaro Cardoso Gomes and Carlos Alberto Vechi, 1981, and in periodicals, including Literary Review.

ADAPTATIONS: Buerra Conjugal was adapted for film by Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, 1975.

SIDELIGHTS: Dalton Trevisan was born in Curitiba, Brazil, a city that figures prominently in his numerous collections of short stories. One of Brazil's most prolific writers, Trevisan has published more than twenty collections of short stories as well as a novel. Although several of his stories appeared in the review Joaquim, his first published work was the awardwinning 1959 Novelas Nada Exemplares. About this work and Trevisan's other stories, Andrew M. Gordon wrote in the Rocky Mountain Review of Language & Literature, "As many critics have noted, this collection and those works that followed share a common preoccupation with revealing to the reader the grotesque, horrific underside of daily existence within modern Brazilian society," and O Vampiro de Curitiba is "representative of this dominant preoccupation." The author continues to live in Curitiba but is very reclusive, refusing to be interviewed or photographed.

In 1946 Trevisan founded Joaquim, one of the principal publications of early postmodernism. Joaquim was meant to be "an outlet for a new generation of national writers, critics and poets," wrote a contributor to the Prólogo Web site. The review featured essays by Antonio Cândido, Mario de Andrade and Otto Maria Carpeaux, as well as the work of Manuel Bandeira, Carlos Drummond de Andrade, Murilo Mendes, Vinicius de Moraes, and Aníbal Machado.

Twenty years of Trevian's work was collected in 1959's Novelas Nada Exemplares, which won an award from the Instituto Nacional do Livro and the Jabuti Prize. In a Modern Language Studies article, Nelson Vieira described Treavisan's technique: "Once immersed in this world of closed doors and peep shows, the uniformity of experience and mood across stories becomes so compelling and familiar that the reader immediately recognizes the daily snakepit and abysms of human existence and thereby ceases to be a totally dispassionate observer. This acquaintance with the narrative content of violent, sexual and disquieting themes is coupled with a metaphorical style and pictorial technique that draws the reader into the narrative clutches of the author."

The 1965 collection of stories, O Vampiro de Curitiba, translated into English as The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, is Trevisan's most well-known work. "In this collection, the mythical 'Vampiresque' heroes—all are named Nelsinho—are depicted as sexual parasites," wrote Vieira in Modern Language Studies. "His sexual fantasies and the ironically enacted sexual encounters of his preying upon women make him into a living death prototype of sexual deprivation."

Trevian's individual stories vary in length and format, including some verse and haiku. Many feature representative male and female characters named João and Maria. His 1988 collection, Pão e Sangue, "again strives for a broad social critique of Brazilian/Latin American patriarchy via the collective paradigm of his eponymous Johns and Marys who act out their conflicting lives of seething violence in archetypal patterns that are reinforced by the deft repetition of familiar phrases, words, and images," noted Vieira in World Literature Today.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Bevan, David, editor, Literature and the Bible, Rodopi (Atlanta, GA), 1993, pp. 61-77.

PERIODICALS

Brasil Brazil, Volume 3, issue 4, 1990, Linda Ledford-Miller, "Shoes for Little Peter: Narrative Technique in Trevisan's Not-at-All Exemplary Novella, Pedrinho," pp. 37-50.

Choice, September, 1973, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 991.

Horizon, October, 1987, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 63.

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1972, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 1047.

Library Journal, October 1, 1972, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 3183.

Modern Language Studies, Volume 14, number 1, 1984, Nelson H. Vieira, "Narrative in Dalton Trevisan," pp. 11-21.

National Review, January 5, 1973, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 43.

New York Review of Books, April 19, 1973, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 35.

New York Times, December 24, 1972, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 64.

New York Times Book Review, December 24, 1972, E. Rodriguez Monegal, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 6.

Publishers Weekly, September 11, 1972, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 50.

Rocky Mountain Review of Language & Literature, Volume 52, number 1, 1998, Andrew M. Gordus, "The Vampiric and the Urban Space in Dalton Trevisan's O Vampiro de Curitiba," pp. 13-25.

Saturday Review, November 7, 1972, review of The Vampire of Curitiba and Other Stories, p. 65.

World Literature Today, winter, 1987, Earl E. Fitz, review of A Polaquinha, pp. 80-81; winter, 1990, Nelson H. Vieira, review of Pão e Sangue, p. 85.