Contents
João Guimarães Rosa
Writing Grande Sertão: Veredas and reinventing literary Portuguese through backlands speech.
Sagarana · Grande Sertão: Veredas
- Born
- 27 June 1908
- Birthplace
- Cordisburgo, Brazil
- Died
- 19 November 1967
More people
João Guimarães Rosa
Brazilian writer, physician and diplomat whose stories turn the sertão into a setting for philosophical and emotional questions.
Early life
Minas Gerais childhood
Grew up in Cordisburgo, hearing stories and speech that later fed his fiction.
Medical training
Studied medicine in Belo Horizonte before working as a doctor.
Career
- 1930s
Medicine to diplomacy
Worked as a physician before entering Brazil’s diplomatic service.
- 1940s
Diplomatic and literary work
Served abroad and established his reputation with Sagarana.
- 1950s–1967
Major fiction
Published his landmark novel and further stories while continuing public service.
Selected work
Sagarana
Stories of rural Minas Gerais shaped by oral storytelling.
Grande Sertão: Veredas
A former jagunço recounts love, violence and questions of good and evil.
Primeiras Estórias
Short stories combining everyday encounters with strangeness and wonder.
Beyond work
Languages
Studied numerous languages and used that curiosity to expand his Portuguese prose.
Diplomatic partnership
Married Aracy de Carvalho, who helped Jews seeking Brazilian visas in Nazi Germany.
Sources & photo credit
Biography and references ↗Biography and contributions ↗Photo: Unknown Unknown. Public domain · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
