Jesús Moraes, (born 1955 in

Bella Unión Bella Unión is a city in the north part of Artigas Department of Uruguay. History The original settlement was founded on 13 May 1829 under the name "Santa Rosa". It was started by Fructuoso Rivera, who played a prominent role in the early histo ...

Artigas Department Artigas Department ( es, Departamento de Artigas, ) is the northernmost department of Uruguay, located in its northwestern region. Its capital is the city of Artigas, which borders on the Brazilian city of Quaraí. Artigas Department has an area ...

), is an

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an writer, who specializes in short stories.

Subject and nature of writings

As a

Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...

'cuentista', Moraes's writings regularly feature fantasy, religion, and the geographical north of

, from where he hails. Some of the religious thematic element in Moraes's work relates to his seminary background, although his theological studies did not eventually lead to a clerical vocation.

Works

''El descubrimiento'' (The Discovery) is one of his better-known compilations. His short story "Los demonios de Pilar Ramírez" (The demons of Pilar Ramírez) has been made into a film.

Regional background

While

an culture, especially its 20th- and 21st century literature, is substantially secular, and based in the capital,

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Moraes's work in contrast is centred upon the north of the country, and its religious overtones tend to be more overt than in the works of many other contemporary

an writers. Along with fellow writer

Circe Maia Circe Maia, (born June 29, 1932, in Montevideo), is a Uruguayan poet, essayist, translator, and teacher. Biography Circe Maia was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1932. Her parents were María Magdalena Rodríguez and the notary Julio Maia, both ...

, he is one of the relatively few contemporary Uruguayan writers to be strongly identified with the north of the country.

Moraes's works in translation

Some of Moraes's work has been translated into

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

. Significantly for Moraes's work, the

an north shares geographical and cultural similarities with the neighbouring state of

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

, in

-speaking

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

; and

, the writer's hometown, is situated near to the

Cuareim River Cuareim is a village in the Artigas Department of northern Uruguay. Location It is located on the shores of the Cuareim River and is northeast of Bella Unión Bella Unión is a city in the north part of Artigas Department of Uruguay. History ...

, marking the border between

and

External links

Photo:

Some of Moraes' works are accessible Online:

Re. Moraes's work translated into Portuguese:

References