Nelson Rodrigues

Nelson Rodrigues was a Brazilian writer and playwright, one of the most important and influential authors of the 20th century in Brazil. He was born in Recife, in 1912, and moved to Rio de Janeiro when he was four years old. He worked as a journalist for his father's newspaper, A Manhã, where he covered the police beat and wrote his own column. He began his literary career in 1941, publishing his first play, A Woman Without Sin. He revolutionized the Brazilian theater with his play The Wedding Dress, in 1943, which introduced a complex exploration of the characters' psychology and a colloquial dialogue. He wrote many other plays, such as The Asphalt Kiss, All Nudity Will Be Punished, The Lady of the Drowned, and The Angel Pornographic. He also wrote novels, short stories, essays, and chronicles, such as The Life in the Tomb, The Empty Purse, The Flowers of Evil, and The Brazilian Tragedy. He was a controversial and provocative writer, who often dealt with themes such as sexuality, violence, morality, and hypocrisy. He was also a passionate soccer fan and wrote sports columns for several newspapers. He died in 1980, at the age of 68, in Rio de Janeiro. He is regarded as one of the greatest masters of Brazilian literature and theater, and one of the main representatives of the modernist movement.