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Gonçalo M. Tavares Portugal
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The Portuguese writer Gonçalo M. Tavares was born in 1970
in Luanda. He spent his childhood in Aveiro in northern Portugal and nowadays
teaches Theory of Science at a university in Lisbon. Tavares has surprised his
readers with the variety of books he has published since 2001 and has been
awarded an impressive amount of literary prizes in a very short time.
In 2005 he won the José Saramago Prize for young
writers under 35. In his speech at the award ceremony, Saramago commented: Jerusalém is a great book, and truly deserves a place
among the great works of Western literature. Gonçalo M. Tavares has no right to
be writing so well at the age of 35. One feels like punching him!
Gonçalo M. Tavares has been awarded the Prêmio Portugal Telecom de Literatura em
Língua Portuguesa 2007 for his novel Jerusalém.
Recently
José Saramago stated:
Gonçalo M. Tavares burst onto the Portuguese literary scene armed with
an utterly original imagination that broke through all the traditional
imaginative boundaries. This, combined with a language entirely his own,
mingling bold invention and a mastery of the colloquial, means that it would be
no exaggeration to say - with no disrespect to the young Portuguese novelists
writing today - that there is very much a before Gonçalo M. Tavares and an
after. I think that is the highest praise I can give. I've predicted that in
thirty years' time, if not before, he will win the Nobel Prize and I'm sure my
prediction will come true. My only regret is that I won't be there to give him
a congratulatory hug.
From an impressive list of
works published in swift succession which surprise readers by their
philosophical mind quizzes, diffidently and ironically told events and broad
stylistic variations, choice is made here of a number in which the main
protagonist is a “Senhor”: O Senhor Valéry embraces 25
short, playfully-philosophical stories about Mr. Valéry, who is short but tries
hard to adapt to his surroundings, more or less successfully. With apparent
childlike naivety he upsets the rules of logic and reason. For example, he
jumps up and down in order to be as tall as his fellow men, declaring: I am
as tall as tall people, only for a shorter while.
O
Senhor Henri, a close relative of Mr. Valéry’s, is a bit more egocentric and
conceited and likes to dabble in paradoxical matters and linguistic games,
besides being very partial to absinthe. Mister Henri says ... it’s true that
if a man mixes absinthe with reality it makes for a better reality ... yet it’s
also the case that if a man mixes absinthe with reality it makes for a worse
reality ...
O Senhor Swedenborg, the latest
resident in the writer’s quarter, is based on a Swedish scientist, theologian
and mystic who, in the eighteenth century, wrote a large amount of fiction in
Latin. Tavares’ Swedenborg uses the lectures that his colleagues and the people
living in his neighbourhood give, to help him think through and carry out his
geometric research. His reflections on memory, the mirror, seducción, desire,
death and dozens of other things, are acute observations on life, always from a
geometric and logical perspective and written in the familiar and jocular tone
of the Senhores.
And other gentlemen,
neighbours in a fictional writers´quarter, are introduced in book form such as
Mr. Brecht, Mr. Juarroz, Mr. Calvino, Mr. Walser, Mr. Kraus and Mr.Eliot.
This literary-graphic project – which Rachel Caiano illustrates with her
minimalist strokes– is neither a biography or in the style of, and contrary to
what the title suggests, is not so much about the writer but more about his
language, his intellectual univers eand his personal points of view. Even
though Tavares is very familiar with the Senhores’ work, the reader is not
required to have any prior knowledge and can delve into these books unaware.
Véronique
Rossignol, Livres Hebdo
In a series which the
author calls “O Reino” (“The Kingdom”, formerly “Black Books”) he has published
four novels which - this time in a less playful manner - address the topic of the essence
of human existence.
Just like
Walser’s dark notebooks, Gonçalo M. Tavares’ Black Books continue to give their
version of the world we live in, [...] of individual conscience, and the
fragility of a human being in the play of existential forces, and the
indifference or alienation of the individual. A máquina de Joseph Walser (“Joseph Walser’s Machine”), following Um homem: Klaus Klump (“Klaus Klump: A
Man”), is constructed as an attempt at apprehending the essence of humanity,
drawing on material with the soul of a frighteningly rational world.
Agripina
Carriço Vieira, Jornal de Letras
In Jerusalém Ernst
Spengler finds himself alone in the night of the 29th of May. He is about to
throw himself out of the window. Suddenly the phone rings. Change of scene: The
thirty-year-old Mylia is in her apartment and suffering great pain. She is
terminally ill. She leaves the flat to go to a church. Ever since the war
ended, Hinnerek Obst can not go out into the street without fear. For his eerie
guise he is taken to be a murderer. He too is roaming the streets this night.
Theodor Busbeck, doctor, historian and ex-husband of Mylia likewise leaves his
apartment at 3 am in the morning in search of a prostitute. Mylia had one day
turned up at his surgery and said I am schizophrenically mad. Would you like to
cure me? The two had married. Later, however, Theodor left his wife in a
psychiatric clinic. For years he had worked on developing a mathematical
formula to foresee future crimes in the history of mankind.
In a clear and objective
language, this book tells a strange and disconcerting story. It seems as though
a secret force is leading the individual characters to their encounter in this
particular night. A world coined by violence, fear, pain and insanity is
evoked. The author succeeds in combining an exceedingly attention-grabbing
story full of surprising contemplations on human nature with the diverse
mechanisms of the exertion of power.
Jerusalém has been selected
for the Portuguese edition of “1001 books to read before dying – a
chronological guide to the most important novels of all times”. The novel
appears alongside works by Philip Roth and John Banville.
His remarkable 'Black Books' have brought me a degree of joy in their reading which renders them invaluable to me, the more so given the rarity of the experience. His 'Jerusalem' raises all the former good qualities to perfection: an enviable level of literary ability which draws the reader through the ferocity of a plot with a thread of temperate beauty.
Helia Correia
With new literature we are in a kind of strange way within a world of death in parentheses. There is perhaps no other writer who communicates such a sentiment better than the author of “Jerusalém”, Gonçalo M. Tavares. I came and I stayed, held alone within this space.
Eduardo Lourenco
It is around the absence of happiness, in the void that threacherously fills with the stagnation brought by wealth or madness, where Gonçalo M. Tavares constructs his fabulous Jerusalém, a book at once evocative of the ghost of Kafka, German expressionist cinema, and the canvases of Anselm Kiefer...
Helena
Vasconcelos
Un Kafka portugais.
Elisabeth Barillé,
LE FIGARO
Jérusalem est un grand roman…
Christine Ferniot, TÉLÉRAMA
Magistral réflexion kafkaienne sur la peur, la
folie et la douleur.
LIRE
Le poète et
romancier Gonçalo M. Tavares est une révélation. ´
MAGAZINE LITTÉRAIRE
In the last novel of four
in his “O Reino” series, Aprender a rezar na Era da Técnica
(“Learning to Pray in the Age of Technology”), Tavares talks about “the
position in the world of Lenz Buchmann”, as indicated in the book's subtitle.
The protagonist is a cold and calculating character who feels destined to
dominate the world from a position of superiority. In an environment which
evokes the political climate of central Europe between the wars, Lenz Buchmann
begins his career as a surgeon. In his professional life, he unflinchingly
makes decisions between life and death, without showing a moment of compassion
for his patients, for their pain. Lenz becomes a prestigious surgeon, but
nonetheless feels that the human body is a small field of action and he
believes himself to be destined for works on a greater scale. He dedicates
himself to the politics of his city, his country. Soon, he is recognised as one
of the most important figures of his country. His party manages to win the
elections to preside over the country, and Buchmann is the right-hand man to
the president, while willing to take over the post of the number one at the
first opportunity that presents itself. At that very moment, he is diagnosed
with a brain tumour and becomes transformed from a main player into a patient,
a victim.
With an abrupt and dry
language, the author describes the character and his ideology. The figure of
evil, incarnate through Lenz Buchmann, is subject to detailed scrutiny. The
shadow of a fascist Buchmann troubles the reader and making us fear the worst,
until the protagonist, who believes himself to be invincible as a superior man,
falls into the web of illness and has to learn to live, to survive without
giving orders, but giving thanks. As with his previous novel, Jerusalém, power
relations, illness and death are essential elements in this novel, which keep
the reader rapt from beginning to end.
The greatest gift of the young Portuguese novelist Gonçalo M. Tavares is
his ability, as a writer, to reduce the world to fragments and reconstruct it
again as if it were his own creation. Each of his books (or set of books) is a
kaleidoscope that rearranges reality for us better to observe it, making links
explicit and obviating what is superfluous.
Alberto Manguel
The literature of Gonçalo M. Tavares is radical, and does not allow us
to remain indifferent. On the contrary, it makes us uncomfortable and hurt.
Tavares is a master in the art of shocking the reader.
José Castello,
Ípsilon
His writing is surreal, fun, poetic, profound, dramatic, a discourse of
shock, a small bomb which pushes past the usual boundaries, the standard
patterns.
Giulia Lancini
One day, when the literary history of the early years of this century in
Portugal comes to be written, the work of Gonçalo M. Tavares will assume an
eminent position…
José Mário
Silva, Diário de Notícias
The 36 years old Lisbon writer, Gonçalo M. Tavares, is the hot tip to
stand alongside José Saramago in the immediate future.
Estado de São Paulo, Brazil
One of the most creative contemporary Portuguese writers.
Moacyr Scliar,
Brazilian writer, VEJA, Brazil
Gonçalo M. Tavares has displayed surprising and measureless skill. This
writer will certainly be spoken of by the Swedish committee in a few years’
time.
Magazine Arte
He’s a born genius!
GLAMOUR, Italy
Fabulous
graphic-literary invention
Franco Marcoaldi, LA
REPUBLICA, Italy
Do
you realize his could become one of the great names in Portuguese literature
(if it isn’t that already?). Only thirty-four years old, his work is so
profoundly disconcerting and innovative that not even such a prediction will
turn out too daring.
Eduardo Prado Coelho, PÚBLICO
Irony
and talent, an unbelievable author.
COURRIER INTERNATIONAL,
France
Thanks
to the logic and the drawings, Mister Valéry always finds a solution.
Jacques Roubaud,
preface to the French edition
Gonçalo
M. Tavares has created a marvellous moveable neighbourhood. His neighbourhood,
where Mr
Brecht and company live, eat and drink, is an
astonishing piece of originality.
Enrique
Vila-Matas, EL PAÍS
For further information, please also visit the author’s blog:
http://goncalomtavares.blogspot.com/
Original editions and rights sold:
Novels:
Um homem:
Klaus Klump, Lisbon: Caminho 2003, 136
p., Círculo de Leitores 2006
Brazil: Companhia das
Letras 2007 ● Bulgaria: Five Plus ● France: Viviane Hamy ● Spain: Random House Mondadori 2006 ● Sweden:
Lusima ● USA: Dalkey Archive
A máquina de
Joseph Walser, Lisbon: Caminho 2004, 168 p.
Brazil: Companhia das
Letras ● Bulgaria: Five Plus ● France: Viviane Hamy ● Italy: Guanda ● Spain: Random House Mondadori 2007● Sweden:
Lusima ● USA: Dalkey Archive
Jerusalém, Lisbon:
Círculo de Leitores 2004; Caminho 2005, 251 p
Argentina: Letranómada ● Brazil: Companhia das Letras 2006 ● Bulgaria:
Five Plus ● Croatia: Sysprint ● France: Viviane Hamy 2008 ● Hungary: Nagyvilág 2008 ● India: Transbooks (English for India only) ● Israel: Kinneret 2009 ● Italy: Guanda 2006● Mexico:
Almadía 2009 ● Poland: Swiat ● Romania: Humanitas 2008 ● Serbia/Montenegro: Treći Trg 2009 ● Slovenia: Modrijan Zalozba 2008 ● Spain: Random House Mondadori 2009 ● Sweden:
Lusima 2009 ● USA: Dalkey Archive 2009
Aprender a rezar na Era da Técnica,
Lisbon: Caminho 2007, 383 p.
Brazil: Companhia das
Letras 2008 ● Bulgaria: Five Plus ● Italy: Feltrinelli ●
Slovenia: Modrijan 2009 ● Sweden:
Lusima ● USA: Dalkey Archive
O bairro (The quarter):
O Senhor
Valéry, Lisbon: Caminho 2002, 80
p.
Brazil: Escritos 2004 ● Croatia: Sysprint 2008 ● France: Viviane Hamy 2008 ● India: Transbooks 2005 (English for India only) ● Italy: Guanda 2005 ● Poland: Bertelsmann Media 2007 ● Russia: Alexandria ● Slovenia: Beletrina 2008 ● Spain: Random House Mondadori 2006 ● Taiwan: Rye Field ● USA: Texas Tech University Press
O Senhor
Henri, Lisbon: Caminho 2003, 95
p.
Brazil: Escritos 2004 ● Croatia: Sysprint 2008 ● France: Viviane Hamy ● India: Transbooks 2005 (English for India only) ● Poland: Bertelsmann Media 2007 ● Slovenia: Beletrina ● Spain: Random House Mondadori 2007 ● USA: Texas Tech University Press
O Senhor
Brecht, Lisbon: Caminho 2004, 100
p.
Brazil:
Casa da Palavra 2005 ● Croatia: Sysprint 2008 ● India: Transbooks 2006 (English for India only) ● Poland:
Bertelsmann Media 2007 ● Slovenia: Beletrina ● Russia: Alexandria ● Spain: Random House Mondadori 2007 ● USA: Texas Tech University Press
O Senhor
Juarroz, Lisbon: Caminho 2004, 88
p.
Brazil:
Casa da Palavra 2006 ● Croatia: Sysprint 2008 ● India: Transbooks 2007 (English for India only) ● Poland: Bertelsmann Media 2007 ● Russia: Alexandria ● Slovenia: Beletrina ● Spain: Random House Mondadori ● USA: Texas Tech University Press
O Senhor
Calvino, Lisbon: Caminho 2005, 71
p.
Brazil:
Casa da Palavra 2006 ● Croatia: Sysprint 2008 ● France: Viviane Hamy 2009 ● India: Transbooks 2007 (English for India only) ● Italy: Guanda 2007● Poland: Bertelsmann Media 2007 ● Slovenia: Beletrina ● Spain: Random House Mondadori ● USA: Texas Tech University Press
O Senhor
Kraus, Lisbon: Caminho 2005, 116
p.
Brazil:
Casa da Palavra 2006 ● Croatia: Sysprint 2008 ● France: Viviane Hamy 2009 ● India: Transbooks (English for India only) 2008 ● Poland: Bertelsmann Media 2007 ● Slovenia: Beletrina ● Spain: Random House Mondadori
O Senhor
Walser, Lisbon: Caminho 2006, 48
p.
Brazil: Casa da Palavra 2008 ● Croatia: Sysprint 2008 ● India: Transbooks (English for India only) ● Russia: Alexandria ● Slovenia: Beletrina
O Senhor Breton e a entrevista,
Lisbon: Caminho 2008, 64 p.
Brazil:
Casa da Palavra ● Russia: Alexandria ● Spain: Témenos (Catalan)
O Senhor Swedenborg e as investigações
geométricas, Lisbon: Caminho 2009, 110 p.
Encyclopedia (essay-fiction):
Breves Notas
sobre Ciência, Lisbon: Relógio d’Água
2006, 145 p.
Argentina: Bajo la luna ● Mexico:
Aldus
Breves Notas
sobre o Medo, Lisbon: Relógio d’Água
2007, 69 p.
Argentina: Bajo la luna ● Mexico:
Aldus ● India:
Transbooks
Breves notas
sobre as Ligações (Llansol, Molder e Zambrano)
Bloom Books:
A perna esquerda de Paris seguido de Roland Barthes e
Robert Musil, Lisbon: Relógio D’ Água 2004, 166 p.
Brazil:
Lumme
Theatre:
O homem ou é
tonto ou é mulher, Porto: Campo das Letras 2003, 76 p.
Brazil: Casa da
Palavra 2005
A colher de
Samuel Beckett e outros textos, Porto: Campo das Letras 2002
Brazil: Arte & Letra
Stories:
Histórias
falsas, Lisbon: Campo das Letras
2005, 56 p.
Argentina: Letranómada 2008
● Brazil: Casa da Palavra 2008 ● India: Transbooks (English for India
only) ● Mexico: Almadía 2008 ● Spain: Xordica 2009
Short prose:
Biblioteca, Porto: Campo das Letras 2004, 190 p.
Argentina:
Letranómada 2009 ● Brazil: Casa da Palavra 2009 ● Spain: Xordica (Spain only) 2007
Água, cão,
cavalo, cabeça, Lisbon: Caminho 2006, 91
p.
Argentina: Letranómada 2008
● Austria/Germany: Verlag der
Apfel 2008 ● Indien: Transbooks ● Italy: Il Filo 2009 ● Mexico: Almadía 2009 ● Spain: Xordica
Poetry:
1 (poesia), Lisbon: Relógio d’ Água 2004
Brazil: Bertrand 2005
Investigações geométricas, Lisbon:
Fundação Ciência e Desenvolvimento 2005, 151 p.
Argentina:
Bajo la luna
For children:
Os Dois
Lados. Histórias do Senhor Valéry,
Lisbon: Caminho 2007, 25 p.
Os Amigos.
Histórias do Senhor Valéry,
Lisbon: Caminho 2007, 25 p.