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Mia Couto Mozambique
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Mia Couto,
born in Beira/Mozambique in 1955, is among the most prominent writers in
Portuguese-speaking Africa. After studying medicine
and biology in Maputo, he worked as a journalist and headed the AIM news
agency. Mia Couto has been awarded several important
literary prizes, among others the Prémio Vergílio Ferreira 1999 and the Prémio
União Latina de Literaturas
Românicas 2007 for his
œuvre. Today he lives in Maputo where he works as a biologist.
After his
first volume of poems Couto published several short story collections and
novels. He describes everyday life in Mozambique, a country
whose people are among the world’s poorest and most maltreated after
three decades of civil war. In the process of doing so, Couto integrates
elements of his country’s oral tradition and his prose, which is of great
musicality, succeeds in creating surreal-ghostly atmospheres out of a concrete
link with reality.
Terra
sonâmbula (“The sleep-walking Country”), his first novel, was
praised by the critics as one of the best novels in the Portuguese language to
have appeared in recent years. In 2002 the Jury Africa’s 100 Best Books of
the 20th Century” selected Terra sonâmbula among the top twelve. Its
scenario is the battle for survival in the civil war in Mozambique. Similar to
the magical realism of Latin America, in this novel and in A varanda do Frangipani (“Under the Frangipani Tree”) Couto conjures
up the nightmare of an omnipresent threat in a way which combines historical
truth with individual dreams and living collective myths.
As in O último voo do Flamingo (“The last
Flight of the Flamingo”) or Um rio
chamado tempo, uma casa chamada terra (“A River called Time, a House called
Earth”) the author continues using his very own, uniquely melodic language to
describe a world deeply marked by traditional forms yet caught up in the
process of constant change in present-day Mozambique.
O outro pé da
sereia (“The Sirene’s other Foot”) is set in Mozambique
in the year 2002. Mwadia Malunga and her husband, the shepherd Zero Madzero,
discover a statue of the Virgin Mary. Mwadia is keen to bring the statue to
Vila Longe, her place of birth, to keep it in a secure place. She is delighted
to return to the village where she was born. The reader becomes acquainted with
Mwadias mother, her stepfather, Lázaro the Curandeiro, the inhabitants of Vila
Longe and finally, an Afro-American from the United States, allegedly on a
quest for his lost African roots along with his Brazilian wife.
On
pages of ever-shifting tone and colour, narratives of the present alternate
with stories from the past. The statue of the Virgin Mary
that Mwadia would find over four hundred years later,
was transported on a ship from Goa to Mozambique in 1560, by the Jesuit
missionary Dom Gonçalo da Silveira. It was his gift for the ruler of the
mythical realm of Monomotapa and was to convert the people to Christianity. On
the ship, which also carries slaves, he is accompanied by the young priest
Manuel Antunes, who in the course of the crossing speaks out against the
inhumane handling of the slaves. A lively picture emerges from colonial times
up to the present day. And it would not be a book by Mia Couto if the author
were not to capture the magical, mythical world of Mozambique with the all
musicality of his language, linking the daily lives of his country’s people in
past and present.
In Venenos
de Deus, Remédios do Diabo (“God's Poison, Devil's Relief”) three
inhabitants of Vila Cacimba, a small village in Mozambique, are the
protagonists: Bartolomeu Sozinho, a retired mechanic, his mulatto wife Munda,
and Alfredo Suaecelência, the local authority a vain, corrupt administrator who
has been friends with Bartolomeu since childhood and is in constant competition
with him. Sidónio Rosa, a Portuguese doctor and aid worker with the task of
dealing with an epidemic of meningitis in Vila Cacimba, is a witness to this
conflict, which is loaded with sexual tension. Gradually, Sidónio comes to
recognise the secrets and contradictions of the African village.
In reality,
Sidónio Rosa came to the village in search of Deolinda, who he had met and
fallen in love with in Portugal. She is Bartolomeu and Munda's daughter,
allegedly away on a trip. Again and again, Sidónio walks the path from the
village's only boarding house, to the couple's home to visit Bartolomeu, who is
suffering from severe diabetes. He becomes a kind of mediator between the old couple,
who argue and fight although they still love each other. The couple tell him
they are only in contact with their daughter by letter, but it later transpires
that she died during the abortion of Suaecelência's child. The administrator
maintains she died of AIDS. The competition between Bartolomeu and the village
head is to do with politics and also with love, as Bartolomeu has reason to
suspect that his wife is also Suaecelência's lover.
All the
protagonists are caught up in a web of contradictions even Sidónio, who claims to be a
doctor but has not yet finished his medical degree and ought not to be treating
patients. In African narrative tradition, the truth is just as important as its
many variations. This book is a beautiful illustration of how people weave
illusions around themselves so that they do not have to die.
Jesusalém tells the
fascinating story of a family whose lives were shaped by a deeply hidden
tragedy. Mwanito and his father Silvestre live far
removed from civilization when suddenly a woman appears to disturb their
peaceful world, bringing them back to the city. There, Mwanito
finally finds out how his mother died and what drove his father to insanity and
into the wilderness. A powerful story about oblivion and how
we deal with pain and guilt.
A kind of magic realism with African roots that will enthral the
reader.
El País, Babelia
Another demonstration of how the musicality and the poetry of Mia Couto’s warm words are the perfect camouflage for
addressing major issues.
Os Meus Livros
In his latest novel A confissão da leoa
(“The Lioness’s Confession”), Mia Couto tells the
captivating story of the hunter Arcanjo, who is sent
to an African village haunted by man-eating lions and slowly discovers its
darkest secrets. Based on true facts and written in atmospheric language, A confissão da leoa skilfully
interweaves the enthralling stories of Arcanjo and Mariamar, constantly surprising the reader with unexpected
twists and turns.
One of the
richest and most important authors in Africa.
Henning Mankell
Original editions and rights sold:
Novels:
Terra sonâmbula, Lisbon:
Caminho 1992, 220 p.; Feature Film, Pandora 2006
Brazil: Nova Fronteira 1993 ● Bulgaria: Panorama ●Croatia: V.B.Z. ● Czech Republic: BB Art Publishers 2003 ● Denmark: Hjulet 2000 ● France: Albin Michel 1994 ● Germany: dipa 1994 ● Greece: Aiora 2003 ● Israel: Carmel 2004 ● Italy: Guanda 1999, pb 2002 ● Netherlands: Ambo 1996, Van Gennep 2008 ● Norway: Aschehoug 1994 ● Poland: Karakter 2010 ● Slovenia: Beletrina ●
Spain: Alfaguara 1998 ● Sweden: Ordfront 1995, pb 1999 ● UK: Serpent’s Tail 2006
A varanda do Frangipani, Lisbon:
Caminho 1996, 154 p.
Andorra: Limits 1998 (Catalan rights) ● Brazil: Companhia das Letras ● Croatia: V.B.Z. 2003 ● Cuba:
Arte y Literatura 2009 ● Finland: Like 2006 ● France: Albin Michel 2000 ● German: Alexander Fest 2000, pb Unionsverlag 2007 ● Italy: Guanda 2002 ● Norway: Aschehoug 1999 ● Poland: Bertelsmann Media 2009 ● Romania: Editura Art 2008 ● Sweden: Ordfront 1997 ● UK: Serpent’s Tail 2001, pb 2008
O último voo do flamingo, Lisbon: Caminho
2000, 225 p.
Brazil: Companhia das Letras 2005 ● Finland: Like 2001 ● France: Chandeigne 2009 ● Italy: Guanda ● Netherlands: Van Gennep 2007 ● Poland: PIW 2005 ● Romania: Art ● Slovenia: Beletrina 2005 ● Spain: Alfaguara 2002 ● Sweden: Ordfront ● UK: Serpent’s Tail 2004
Um rio chamado tempo, uma casa chamada terra, Lisbon:
Caminho 2002, 262 p.
Brazil: Companhia das Letras 2003 ● France: Albin Michel 2008 ● Italy: Guanda 2005 ●
Serbia: Geopoetika 2011 ● Spain(Catalan): Ediciones 62
2009 ● UK: Serpent’s Tail 2008
O outro pé da sereia, Lisbon: Caminho 2006, 284 p.
Brazil: Companhia das Letras 2006 ● Spain: El Cobre 2009 ● Sweden: Leopard 2010
Venenos de Deus, Remédios do Diabo, Lisbon: Caminho 2008, 188 p.
France: Métailié ● Italy: Voland ● Mexico: Almadía 2010 ● Spain:
Txalaparta 2011
Jesusalém, Lisbon: Caminho 2009, 294 p.
Brazil: Companhia das Letras
2009 ● Canada: Biblioasis ● France: Métailié 2011 ● Spain: Alfaguara 2012 ● Sweden: Leopard
A
confissão da leoa
Forthcoming in May 2012
Stories:
Vozes anoitecidas, Lisbon: Caminho 1986,
169 p.
Belgium: Houtekiet 1996 ● France: Albin Michel 1996 ● Italy: Lavoro 1989 ● South Africa: Penguin Books 2010 ● Spain: Txalaparta 2001 ● UK: Heinemann 1990
Cada homem é uma raça, Lisbon: Caminho 1990, 181 p.
Brazil: Nova Frontiera 1998 ● France: Albin Michel 1996 ● Italy:
IBIS ● Poland: Inst. of Iberian and
Ibero-American Studies 2008 ● South Africa: Penguin Books 2010 ● Spain: Alfaguara ● UK: Heinemann 1993
Cronicando, Lisbon:
Caminho, 1991, 193 p.
Chile: LOM 2005 (Latin American rights) ● France: Albin Michel 1996 ● Italy: IBIS 1998 ● Spain: Txalaparta 1996, 2011
Estórias abensonhadas
Lisbon: Caminho, 1994, 186 p.
Brazil: Nova Fronteira
1996 ● France: Albin Michel 1996 ● Poland: Inst. of Iberian and Ibero-American Studies 2008
Contos do nascer da terra, Lisbon: Caminho
1997, 245 p.
Vinte e Zinco, Lisbon: Caminho 1999,
142 p.
France: Albin Michel 2003
Na berma de nenhuma estrada, Lisbon: Caminho 2001, 184 p.
O fio das missangas, Lisbon: Caminho
2004, 148 p.
France: Chandeigne 2010 ● Italy: Quarup 2011 ● Poland: Inst. of Iberian and Ibero-American Studies
2008
Short Prose:
Pensatempos. Textos de opinão, Lisbon: Caminho 2005, 157 p
E se Obama fosse africano? e outras
interinvenções, Lisbon: Caminho 2009, 216 p.
France: Chandeigne 2010
Poetry:
Raiz de Orvalho, Lisbon: Caminho
1999, 99 p.
Spain: CEDMA 2009
Tradutor
de Chuvas, Lisbon:
Caminho 2011, 120 p.
Children’s books:
A chuva pasmada, Ill. by Danuta Wojciechowska,
Lisbon: Caminho 2004, 74 p.
Mar me quer, Ill. by João Nasi Pereira
Lisbon: Caminho 2000, 72 p.
Picture books:
O
gato e o escuro, Ill. by Danuta Wojciechowska,
Lisbon: Caminho 2001
France: Chandeigne 2003
O
beijo da palavrinha, Ill. by Danuta Wojciechowska,
Lisbon: Caminho 2008, 29 p.