Raduan Nassar (born November 27, 1935, in Pindorama,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

) is a Brazilian writer. The son of Lebanese immigrants, he moved to

when he was a teenager. He studied Law and Philosophy at the

University of São Paulo The Universidade de São Paulo (, USP) is a public research university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and the largest public university in Brazil. The university was founded on 25 January 1934, regrouping already existing schools in ...

. In 1970, he wrote ''Um Copo de Cólera'', published in 1978. His literary debut was in 1975, when ''Lavoura Arcaica'' was released. The Brazilian cinema adapted both of his books (see the article Lavoura Arcaica (To the left of the father)). In 1997, ''Menina a Caminho'', a book of short stories written during the 1960s and 70s, was released. Despite great critical acclaim, Nassar retired from writing in 1984, claiming he had lost interest in literature and wanted to work with agriculture instead. As a landowner, Nassar dedicated himself to commercial farming until 2011, when he donated the entire farm to the

Federal University of São Carlos Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

, on the condition that it should become a new

campus A campus traditionally refers to the land and buildings of a college or university. This will often include libraries, lecture halls, student centers and, for residential universities, residence halls and dining halls. By extension, a corp ...

. He has also donated much of his real estate and invested in local charity, retiring then to a small farm. In 2016, Nassar was acclaimed the winner of the 2016

Camões Prize The Camões Prize (, ), named after Luís de Camões, is the most prestigious prize for literature in the Portuguese language. The prize was established in 1989 and is supported by the governments of Brazil and Portugal. It is awarded annually to ...

, the most prestigious award of the Portuguese language literature.

English translations

* * Reviewing ''A Cup of Rage'' in British daily newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'',

Nicholas Lezard Nicholas Andrew Selwyn LezardThe Cambridge University List of Members up to 31 December 1991, Cambridge University Press, p. 814 is an English journalist, author and literary critic. Background and education The Lezard family went from London to ...

found it to be "a burning coal of a work", adding, "You may consider a book this short to be scarcely worthy of the name, but it packs more power into its scant 47 pages than most books do into five or 10 times as many. Each of its seven chapters comes not only as an unbroken paragraph but as a single sentence: you have to read carefully to keep track, and once you have finished you will want to read it again. The writing is chewy – dense, tough, but well worth the effort".

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nassar, Raduan Living people 1935 births Brazilian male writers Brazilian people of Lebanese descent Camões Prize winners Writers from São Paulo (state) University of São Paulo alumni