Brazilian writer Lygia Fagundes Telles dies at 98
Writer and member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL) Lygia Fagundes Telles died in São Paulo Sunday (Apr. 3), at the age of 98, of natural causes.
She was born in the city of São Paulo, graduated from the Largo de São Francisco Law School, at the University of São Paulo (USP). She joined the ABL in 1987, occupying chair 16, and was succeeded by Pedro Calmon.
Lygia’s work deals with such themes as love, death, fear, adultery, and drugs. It also approaches social problems and explores women’s universe, turning a critical eye on dogma and unveiling her own political views.
Awards
Her first book of short stories, Porões e Sobrados, was published in 1938. She received the Jabuti Award—considered Brazil’s most traditional literary accolade—on four occasions. The first time, in 1966, she won with O Jardim Selvagem. She won again in 1973, with the novel As Meninas (The Girl in the Photograph in English). In 1996, she won yet again with A Noite Escura e Mais Eu, and with the collection of short stories Invenção e Memória in 2001.
In 2005, she was also awarded the Camões Prize, which recognizes Portuguese language authors for their body of work. Her name joined a list currently including 33 others, from five different countries.Holding a degree in Law, the writer was active against censorship under the military dictatorship in Brazil. Along with writers Nélida Piñon and Jefferson Ribeiro de Andrade and historian Hélio Silva, she was part of the committee tasked with drafting the so-called Intellectuals’ Manifesto, a petition that gained repercussion in 1977 after garnering support from over a thousand signatories. Delivered to the Ministry of Justice, the document was considered the largest statement by intellectuals against the censorship imposed in the period.
Lygia left no descendants. Her only son, filmmaker Goffredo da Silva Telles Neto, died in 2006, aged 52. He was the fruit of her relationship with her first husband, jurist Gofredo Teles Júnior, which lasted from 1947 to 1960.
