Victor Doblas Heringer (March 27, 1988 – March 7, 2018) was a Brazilian

Prêmio Jabuti The Prêmio Jabuti (the "Tortoise Prize") is the most traditional literary award in Brazil, given by the . It was conceived by Edgard Cavalheiro in 1959 when he presided over the CBL, with the interest of rewarding authors, editors, illustrators, ...

-winning novelist, translator, '' cronista'' and poet, famous for his novels ''Glória'' (2012) and ''O Amor dos Homens Avulsos'' (2016).

Biography

Victor Doblas Heringer was born on March 27, 1988, to a family of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

descent in

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, in the ''

bairro A ''bairro'' () is a Portuguese language, Portuguese word for a Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter or a neighborhood or, sometimes, a district which is within a city or town. It is commonly used in Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, ...

'' (neighborhood) of

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, but was raised in

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. Graduated in

Literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

from the

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (, UFRJ) is a public university, public research university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the country and is one of the Brazilian centers of excellence in teaching and r ...

, before publishing his first books he worked at the

Moreira Salles Institute The Moreira Salles Institute (, IMS) is a Brazilian nonprofit organization founded by diplomat and banker Walter Moreira Salles in 1992, with the establishment of its first cultural center in the city of Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais. Later, the ...

and at the Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa after obtaining a scholarship for the latter. Between 2014 and 2017 he had a weekly

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in the magazine '' Pessoa'', and also periodically wrote for the

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-based magazine ''Continente'', among many others. Heringer published his debut novel, ''Cidade Impossível'', through Editora Multifoco in 2009, which was followed by 2011's poetry collection ''Automatógrafo''. In 2012, his critically acclaimed second novel ''Glória'', about a " plastic artist searching for an impossible woman", came out, for which he was awarded the prestigious

the following year. Heringer's third novel, ''O Amor dos Homens Avulsos'', was released in 2016 through

Companhia das Letras Companhia das Letras is the largest publishing house in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. It was founded in 1986 by Luiz Schwarcz and his wife, Lilia Moritz Schwarcz. Companhia das Letras began as a literary publishing house and gradually grew into ...

, and tells the story "of two boys who fall in love with each other, but have their passion interrupted by a tragedy"; it was nominated for the Prêmio Rio de Literatura, the São Paulo Prize for Literature and the Prêmio Oceanos. He claims that the fictional ''carioca'' neighborhood of Queím, in which the novel takes place, was inspired by the real-life neighborhood of

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, where he used to visit his grandmother when he was a kid, as well as by his childhood memories of Rio's North Zone as a whole. Heringer's final work to be published during his lifetime was a translation to Portuguese of

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's 2000 memoir ''

First They Killed My Father ''First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers'' is a 2000 non-fiction book written by Loung Ung, a Cambodian-American author and childhood survivor of Democratic Kampuchea. It is her personal account of her experiences during t ...

'', which came out in Brazil in 2017 through

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. The same year, he was included by '' Forbes Brasil'' in their " UNDER 30 in Literature" list, and one of his poems was featured in the anthology ''É Agora como Nunca'', edited by singer

Adriana Calcanhotto Adriana da Cunha Calcanhotto (born 3 October 1965) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter. Her melancholic songs are often categorized in the MPB genre. She began her professional career in 1984 and released her first studio album in 1990. Career B ...

. Throughout most of his life Heringer struggled with depression. On March 7, 2018, three weeks prior to his 30th birthday, he was found dead near his apartment in Copacabana following an apparent suicide by self-defenestration. On June 9, 2018, his publisher Companhia das Letras announced that, as a tribute to him, they would re-issue all of his works; they had already re-published his first novel ''Glória'' some months prior, and a volume of his complete poetry, containing previously unpublished pieces and originally announced for a 2019 release, eventually came out in 2024. In one of his final interviews, from October 2017, he stated that he was working on a fourth novel, scheduled to be published in 2018 and inspired by his travels across

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and

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, but it is unknown if he was able to finish it prior to his death. A posthumous collection containing seventy of Heringer's ''

crônica or (''chronicle''; see spelling differences in Portuguese) is a Portuguese-language form of short writings about daily topics, published in newspaper or magazine columns. ''Crônicas'' are usually written in an informal, observational and some ...

s'', ''Vida Desinteressante'', came out through Companhia das Letras in 2021; it was nominated for another Prêmio Jabuti the following year. An English translation of ''O Amor dos Homens Avulsos'' was published by

Peirene Press Peirene Press is an independent publishing house based in Bath. Established by the novelist and journalist Meike Ziervogel, Peirene publishes literary fiction in translation from all over the world. Their books are regularly listed for significa ...

on July 11, 2023, following an earlier translation to Italian by Safarà Editore. The English translation was a finalist for the 2023

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given by the

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."National Book Critics Circle: 2023 NBCC Award Winners"
www.bookcritics.org. Retrieved May 6, 2024.

Bibliography

;Novels * ''Cidade Impossível'' (Multifoco, 2009) * ''Glória'' (7Letras, 2012; re-issued by

in 2018) * ''O Amor dos Homens Avulsos'' (Companhia das Letras, 2016) ;Poetry * ''Automatógrafo'' (7Letras, 2011) * ''Não Sou Poeta: Poesia Reunida'' (Companhia das Letras, 2024; posthumous) ;Translation * ''

'' (

, 2017) ;''Crônicas'' * ''Vida Desinteressante: Fragmentos de Memórias'' (Companhia das Letras, 2021; posthumous)

Notes

* A. Released in English as ''The Love of Singular Men'' (trans. by James Young,

, 2023) and in Italian as ''L'amore degli uomini soli'' (trans. by Vincenzo Barca, Safarà Editore, 2023) * B. Released in Portuguese as ''Primeiro Mataram Meu Pai''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heringer, Victor 1988 births 2018 deaths 2018 suicides 21st-century Brazilian poets Writers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Federal University of Rio de Janeiro alumni 21st-century Brazilian novelists Brazilian male poets Portuguese-language writers Brazilian male novelists 21st-century Brazilian male writers 21st-century translators English–Portuguese translators Brazilian people of German descent Suicides by jumping in Brazil People from Nova Friburgo