António Lobo Antunes

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

António Lobo Antunes, GCSE (pron. IPA [ɐ̃'tɔniu 'loβu ɐ̃'tunɨʃ]) (born September 1, 1942) is a Portuguese novelist.

António Lobo Antunes was born in Lisbon. At the age of 7 he decided to be a writer but when he was 16, his father sent him to medical school. During this time he never stopped writing. By the end of his education he had to join the Army, to take part in the war in Angola. It was there, in a military hospital, that he gained interest for the subjects of death and the other. He came back from Africa in 1973. He worked many months in Germany and Belgium and, in 1979, after his divorce in 1976, he published his first novel - Memória de Elefante Elephant's Memory - where he told the story of his separation. Due to the success of his first novels António Lobo Antunes decided to partly give up medicine and to devote his evenings to writing. He has been practicing psychiatry all the time, though, mainly at the outpatient's unit at the Hospital Miguel Bombarda of Lisbon. He has told of his creative process in a lengthy interwiew with the Danish newspaper "Information" (2000).

[edit] Novels

Memória de Elefante (1979) Elephant's Memory
Os Cus de Judas (1979) South of Nowhere (available in English)
Conhecimento do Inferno (1980) Getting to Know the Inferno (available in English)
Explicação dos Pássaros (1981) An Explanation of the Birds (available in English)
Fado Alexandrino (1983) Fado Alexandrino (available in English)
Auto dos Danados (1985) Act of the Damned (available in English)
As Naus (1988) The Return of the Caravels (available in English)
Tratado das Paixões da Alma (1990) Treatise of the Soul's Passions
A Ordem Natural das Coisas (1992) The Natural Order of Things (available in English)
A Morte de Carlos Gardel (1994) The Death of Carlos Gardel
Manual dos Inquisidores (1996) The Inquisitors' Manual (available in English)
O Esplendor de Portugal (1997) The Splendour of Portugal
Exortação aos Crocodilos (1999) Exhortation to the Crocodiles
Não Entres Tão Depressa Nessa Noite Escura (2000) Don't Go So Fast Into That Dark Night
Que Farei Quando Tudo Arde? (2001) What Shall I Do When All Burns?
Boa Tarde às Coisas Aqui em Baixo (2003) Good Evening to the Things From Here Below
Eu Hei-de Amar uma Pedra (2004) I Shall Love a Stone
Ontem Não te vi em Babilónia (2006) Yesterday I Haven't Seen You in Babylon

Lobo Antunes also published three books of chronicles that include the short texts published in magazines. At the moment Lobo Antunes writes two chronicles every month in Visão, a Portuguese magazine.