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Claudia Tajes Brazil
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Claudia Tajes was born in Porto Alegre in 1963 and spent
many years working as a writer in advertising until she started writing fiction
in 2000. Author of four novels and three short story collections, she was soon
noticed for her ability to turn tragedy into comedy, weaving stories full of
irony and good humor in a fresh, unmistakable style. She currently works as a
scriptwriter, adapting her own writings as well as creating original stories
for TV.
“The ugly woman is not simply an æsthetical
deformation. The ugly woman is a frame of mind.” This is how the protagonist of
Claudia Tajes’ A vida sexual da mulher feia (“Sex Life of the Ugly Woman”) describes her
own situation. Jucianara is an ugly woman - not extremely ugly, because those
are considered by some people to have their own sort of charm, but plain ugly
in a way that can both make her invisible or have her stand out in the most
embarrassing way. This is the fate of ugly women that the world does not treat
in the same way as it does the pretty ones. Jucianara learns this at a very
early age. Still as a girl, when she falls in love for the first time and wants
to give the boy a paper heart that she has sculpted herself, he refuses it, saying
that she is ugly. She goes crying to her mother and recounts the incident.
Instead of making any comment, however, her mother just asks what she has done
at school. As the young girl sobs louder and louder, she tells her to be quiet,
because the soap opera has just begun.
Jucianara uses the material provided by her
own life to draw a portrait of every ugly woman's fate in modern society.
Candid, witty and often outright hilarious, the book follows Jucianara's
misadventures throughout life, from the different treatment received from her
family and friends at school to her adult love life. A best-seller which put
Tajes into the literary spotlight, Sex Life… is currently being adapted as a TV
series, a film and a stage play.
A coming of
age novel of a woman who is, to say the least, not very attractive. The story tells of the reflective and
dynamic processes that make up the life of a woman who has never (or almost
never) experienced the eyes of desire upon her. The humour runs at the same
pace as some of the best American comedy series, as the book follows the
hilarious events that happen in the protagonist's life.
Vinicius Jatoba, O Estado
Photographic
producer Dulce has a phobia: cockroaches. As in a
nightmare, when she steps out of the bathroom one Saturday night, preparing to
meet a potential lover and wrapped in a towel, Dulce
spots a cockroach resting on top of the little black dress she had chosen for
the occasion. Giving in to her phobia, she slams the door to her closet – the
beginning of a night like no other. With the detested insect on the other side
of the door and paralyzed with fear, the protagonist starts reviewing her life.
Tajes’ novel Só
as mulheres e as baratas sobreviverão (“Only Women and the cockroaches will
survive”) gives an insight in this unique therapy session of sorts and we get a
glance at the ups and downs of Dulce’s life as a
single woman, of her frustrations, hopes and passions. Reflecting on the nature
of womankind, in this novel the author investigates what would happen if the
final war were to take place between women and cockroaches.
Represented for
Riff Agency, exc. French, Portuguese & Spanish
Original editions and
rights sold:
Novels:
Dores, amores & assemelhados, Porto Alegre: L&PM 2002, 146 p.
Portugal: Palavra 2005
Vida dura, São Paulo: Planeta 2003, 199 p.
A vida sexual da mulher feia, Rio de
Janeiro: Agir 2005, 133 p.
Croatia: Algoritam 2009 ● Italy: Cavallo di Ferro 2008
As pernas de Úrsula e outras possibilidades, Rio de Janeiro: Agir 2001, 2006, 128 p.
Louca por homem - histórias de uma doente
de amor, Rio de Janeiro: Agir
2007, 116 p.
Italy: Cavallo di Ferro 2010
Só as mulheres e as baratas sobreviverão, Porto Alegre: L&PM 2009,
128 p.
Por isso eu sou vingativa, Porto Alegre: L&PM
(forthcoming in November 2011)
Stories:
Dez quase amores, Porto Alegre: L&PM 2000, 120 p.