Sérgio Rodrigues Brazil

©Simone

Born in Muriaé, Minas Gerais in 1962 and living in Rio de Janeiro since 1979, Sérgio Rodrigues built a solid reputation as one of the best writers in Brazilian journalism, having lent his pen to several major newspapers and magazines such as O Globo, Jornal do Brasil and Veja.

Elza, a Garota ("Elza, the Girl") is set in present-day Rio de Janeiro but stretches back to the 1930s. It skilfully interlocks journalistic research and crime writing, political reflection and literary fiction, investigating a true incident under Gétulio Vargas' government. Elza Fernandes is the youngest lover of Miranda, a leading man in the Brazilian Communist Party. After the communist uprising fails in 1935 followed by a wave of arrests, Miranda's comrades accuse Elza of betrayal and execute her.

This terrible incident comes to light again when Xerxes, an eloquent communist at the end of his life, wants to tell Elza's story, which he claims to have experienced at first hand. He chooses to tell the story to Molina, a writer and journalist of the younger generation. He is not terribly successful and is battling with private problems since his girlfriend left him for a very charismatic former friend from university. Molina notes down Xerxes' report, getting more and more interested in the case. But he notices that the descriptions are full of gaps and contradictions. It is only after the old man dies that it transpires that his real name was Pedro, and he had been telling the story of his twin brother Paulo – and his own.

Rodrigues skilfully alternates the fictitious plot and various historical documents, interweaving the different levels of fact and fiction, present and past so well that the reader is never bored but follows this intelligent book with pleasure. Classic writers such as Jorge Amado, Graciliano Ramos and Raquel de Queiroz have referred back to this episode of the failed revolution in their work, as the communist insistence on a coup attempt for which Brazil was not ready tragically underpinned the advance of right-wing forces, which extended the lifetime of Vargas' dictatorial leadership and eventually led the state into a military dictatorship that lasted decades.

With its strict dramatic structure, Elza, a Garota appeals to a broad reader-ship interested in intellectual history and Brazil, while valuing intelligent entertainment in the form of a crime novel.

Elza's drama is reconstituted in an exemplary fashion. There is no ideological diatribe in the novel.

Veja

Represented for Riff Agency, exc. French, Portuguese and Spanish

Novels:

As sementes de Flowerville

Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva 2006, 136 p.

Elza, a Garota

Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira 2009, 238 p.

Portugal: Quetzal 2010

Short stories:

O homem que matou o escritor

Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva 2000, 126 p.

What língua is esta?

Rio de Janeiro: Ediouro 2005, 188 p.

Portugal: Gradiva 2009

Humour:

Manual do mané

(with Arthur Dapieve and Gustavo Poli)

São Paulo: Planeta 2003, 128 p.