Lima Barreto

Lima Barreto was a Brazilian writer, journalist and editor. He was born in Rio de Janeiro, in 1881, and was the son of a typographer and a schoolteacher. He studied at the Colégio Pedro II and the Escola Politécnica, but had to abandon his studies to take care of his family, after his father became mentally ill. He worked as a civil servant and a journalist, and published his first book, Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha, in 1909. He wrote novels, short stories, essays, and memoirs, often with a satirical and social critique of the Brazilian society. He is best known for his novel Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, which depicts the tragic fate of a nationalist and idealist who tries to reform the country. He also wrote other acclaimed works, such as Clara dos Anjos, Numa e a Ninfa, and O Cemitério dos Vivos, which is based on his experience in a psychiatric hospital. He was a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, but faced discrimination and prejudice because of his race and social class. He suffered from alcoholism and depression, and died in 1922, at the age of 41. He is widely regarded as a master of the Portuguese language and a pioneer of modernist literature in Brazil.