Scliar, Moacyr (1937–)

Moacyr Scliar (b. 23 March 1937), Brazilian author. Born in Pôrto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Scliar studied medicine and has worked in the public health field for most of his life. As a fiction writer, he has published more than twenty books, including novels, collections of short stories, and chronicles. Many of his works have been translated into English and other languages. He has also written stories for children and short novels for young adults. A descendant of Russian Jews, Scliar is internationally recognized as having raised Jewish consciousness in Latin American fiction, focusing on the Jewish immigrant in Brazil. Scliar's writings are characterized by a subtle irony; his short stories have been widely anthologized. He has received prestigious prizes for his fiction in Brazil and elsewhere, and is known as a gifted lecturer. Scliar's works include O carnaval dos animais (1968; The Carnival of Animals, 1985); A guerra do Bom Fim (1972); O exército de um homem só (1973); Os deuses de Raquel (1975; The Gods of Raquel, 1986); O ciclo das águas (1977); Mês de cães danados (1977); O centauro no jardim (1980; The Centaur in the Garden, 1985); A estranha nação de Rafael Mendes (1983; The Strange Nation of Rafael Mendes, 1988); and Cenas da vida minúscula (1991). In 1998 he published a collection of short stories titled O amante de madonna e outras histórias. In 2002 and 2003 he was involved in a controversy with Canadian author Yann Martel, author of the Booker Prize-winning novel, Life of Pi. Martel claimed he was inspired to create a similar premise after reading a review of Scliar's work, Max and the Cats (1990). Scliar claimed Martel had abused his intellectual property rights, but he and his publishers decided not to press charges after Martel reiterated that he had been inspired by the premise only and had not actually read the book. In 2003, Scliar was named to the Brazilian Academy of Letters.

See alsoLiterature: Brazil .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barr, Lois Baer. Isaac Unbound: Patriarchal Traditions in the Latin American Jewish Novel. Tempe, AZ: ASU Center for Latin American Studies, Arizona State University, 1995.

DiAntonio, Robert. "The Brazilianization of the Yiddishkeit Tradition," in Latin American Literary Review 17, no. 34 (July-December 1989): 40-51.

DiAntonio, Robert E., and Nora Glickman, eds. Tradition and Innovation: Reflections on Latin American Jewish Writing. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.

Glickman, Nora. "Os Voluntários: A Jewish-Brazilian Pilgrimage," in Modern Jewish Studies Annual 4 (1982).

Mota, Lourenço Dantas, and Benjamin Abdala Juniór. Personae: Grandes personagens da literatura brasileira. São Paulo: Editora SENAC, 2001.

Szklo, Gilda Salem. O bom fim do shtetl: Moacyr Scliar (1990).

Vieira, Nelson. "Judaic Fiction in Brazil: To Be and Not to Be Jewish," in Latin American Literary Review 14, no. 28 (July-December 1986): 31-45.

                                                Regina Igel