Adonias Filho

Adonias Aguiar Filho
Filho in 1967, from the collection of the Brazilian National Archives
Born	(1915-11-27)November 27, 1915 Itajuípe, Brazil
Died	August 2, 1990(1990-08-02) (aged 74) Ilheus, Bahia, Brazil
Organization	Academia Brasileira de Letras

Adonias Aguiar Filho (November 27, 1915 – August 2, 1990) was a novelist, essayist, journalist, and literary critic from Bahia, Brazil, and a member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras.

Life

Filho was born in Itajuípe, Brazil, the son of Adonias Aguiar and Rachel Bastos de Aguiar.

In 1936, 2 years after finishing high school in Salvador, he moved from the south of Bahia to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s capital at the time, where he continued his career in Journalism, previously started in Salvador. He worked for well known newspapers such as Correio da Manhã and Revista do Brazil. He was also a literary critic for Cadernos da "Hora Presente", from São Paulo in 1937, A Manhã, from 1944 to 1945, along with Jornal de Letras (from 1955 to 1960) and Diário de Notícias (from 1958 to 1960). In São Paulo, he also collaborated with O Estado de S. Paulo and Folha da Manhã.

Between 1946 and 1950, he ran the book publishing company "A Noite". He was the director of the Serviço Nacional de Teatro, in 1954, and director of the Biblioteca Nacional from 1961 to 1971. At the same time, he worked for the Agência Nacional [pt] at the Ministério da Justiça.

In 1966, he was elected vice-president of the Associação Brasileira de Imprensa [pt] (ABI) and in the following year, he became a member of the Conselho Federal de Cultura (CFC). He was re-elected in 1969, 1971 and 1973. He was the president of the ABI in 1972 and president of the CFC from 1977 to 1990, when he died.

As a writer, Adonias Aguiar Filho searched for inspiration for his fiction in the "zona cacaueira" (Cocoa plantations) close to Ilhéus, back to his origins in the South of Bahia, where he was born and raised. This ambiance is well displayed in his first novel, Os servos da morte (The Servants of Death), published in 1946. In the form of the romance novel, reality served as an opportunity to recreate a world charged with symbolism, in the situations as well as in the characters, bearing witness to a tragic sense of life and worldview. He was part of the Grupo Festa [pt], a literary society devoted to spirituality and Catholic tradition.

The use of original stylistic features, reflective of the internal violence of his characters gave him a fundamental place in the literary generation that created the 3rd phase of Brazilian Modernism in 1945, which was based on a return to more normal disciplines of writing. They were concerned about writing with less formal research, while broadening their regional meanings to apply universally. Their work still has a significant influence on contemporary Brazilian literature and fiction.

He was honored with the 21st chair at the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Academia Brasileira de Letras) at the age of 53, May 23, 1969. The title was handed to him by his fellow writer from Bahia, Jorge Amado. His literary work has been translated into English, German, Spanish, French and Slovak.

He died in Ilhéus, shortly after his wife did.

Academia Brasileira de Letras

Fifth holder of the 21st Chair, originally held by Joaquim Serra; elected January 14, 1965.

Preceded by Álvaro Moreyra [pt]; Followed by Dias Gomes

Bibliography

Awards

Adonias Filho was awarded:

• Prêmio Paula Brito de crítica literária (Guanabara, 1968), for the book "Léguas da promissão",
• Golfinho de Ouro de Literatura (1968),
• Prêmio PEN Clube do Brasil,
• Prêmio da Fundação Educacional do Paraná (FUNDEPAR)
• Prêmio do Instituto Nacional do Livro (1968–1969)
• Prêmio Brasília de Literatura (1973), from Fundação Cultural do Distrito Federal.
• Premio Nacional de Literatura (1975), from Instituto Nacional do Livro, in the category published work (1974–1975), with the romance novel "As velhas", and
• Title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Universidade Federal da Bahia, in 1983.

External links

• Adonias na Academia Brasileira (in Portuguese)
• e-biografias (in Portuguese)
• Virtual books (in Portuguese)
• Encyclopædia Britannica (in English)
• Adonius Aguiar Filho recorded at the Library of Congress for the Hispanic Division’s audio literary archive on December 13, 1977

• v
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Patrons and members of the Brazilian Academy of Letters

Chairs
1 to 10

1 (Adelino Fontoura): Luís Murat ► Afonso d'Escragnolle Taunay ► Ivan Monteiro de Barros Lins ► Bernardo Élis ► Evandro Lins e Silva ► Ana Maria Machado
2 (Álvares de Azevedo): Coelho Neto ► João Neves da Fontoura ► João Guimarães Rosa ► Mário Palmério ► Tarcísio Padilha ► Eduardo Giannetti da Fonseca
3 (Artur de Oliveira): Filinto de Almeida ► Roberto Simonsen ► Aníbal Freire da Fonseca ► Herberto Sales ► Carlos Heitor Cony ► Joaquim Falcão
4 (Basílio da Gama): Aluísio Azevedo ► Alcides Maia ► Viana Moog ► Carlos Nejar
5 (Bernardo Guimarães): Raimundo Correia ► Oswaldo Cruz ► Aloísio de Castro ► Cândido Mota Filho ► Rachel de Queiroz ► José Murilo de Carvalho ► Ailton Krenak
6 (Casimiro de Abreu): Teixeira de Melo ► Artur Jaceguai ► Goulart de Andrade ► Barbosa Lima Sobrinho ► Raimundo Faoro ► Cícero Sandroni
7 (Castro Alves): Valentim Magalhães ► Euclides da Cunha ► Afrânio Peixoto ► Afonso Pena Júnior ► Hermes Lima ► Pontes de Miranda ► Diná Silveira de Queirós ► Sérgio Correia da Costa ► Nelson Pereira dos Santos ► Cacá Diegues
8 (Cláudio Manuel da Costa): Alberto de Oliveira ► Oliveira Viana ► Austregésilo de Athayde ► Antônio Calado ► Antônio Olinto ► Cleonice Berardinelli ► Ricardo Cavaliere
9 (Gonçalves de Magalhães): Carlos Magalhães de Azeredo ► Marques Rebelo ► Carlos Chagas Filho ► Alberto da Costa e Silva ► Vacant
10 (Evaristo da Veiga): Rui Barbosa ► Laudelino Freire ► Osvaldo Orico ► Orígenes Lessa ► Lêdo Ivo ► Rosiska Darcy de Oliveira

Chairs
11 to 20

11 (Fagundes Varela): Lúcio de Mendonça ► Pedro Augusto Carneiro Lessa ► Eduardo Ramos ► João Luís Alves ► Adelmar Tavares ► Deolindo Couto ► Darcy Ribeiro ► Celso Furtado ► Hélio Jaguaribe ► Ignácio de Loyola Brandão
12 (França Júnior): Urbano Duarte de Oliveira ► Antônio Augusto de Lima ► Vítor Viana ► José Carlos de Macedo Soares ► Abgar Renault ► Lucas Moreira Neves ► Alfredo Bosi ► Paulo Niemeyer Filho
13 (Francisco Otaviano): Alfredo d'Escragnolle Taunay ► Francisco de Castro ► Martins Júnior ► Sousa Bandeira ► Hélio Lobo ► Augusto Meyer ► Francisco de Assis Barbosa ► Sérgio Paulo Rouanet ► Ruy Castro
14 (Franklin Távora): Clóvis Beviláqua ► Antônio Carneiro Leão ► Fernando de Azevedo ► Miguel Reale ► Celso Lafer
15 (Gonçalves Dias): Olavo Bilac ► Amadeu Amaral ► Guilherme de Almeida ► Odilo Costa Filho ► Marcos Barbosa ► Fernando Bastos de Ávila ► Marco Lucchesi
16 (Gregório de Matos): Araripe Júnior ► Félix Pacheco ► Pedro Calmon ► Lygia Fagundes Telles ► Jorge Caldeira
17 (Hipólito da Costa): Sílvio Romero ► Osório Duque-Estrada ► Edgar Roquette-Pinto ► Álvaro Lins ► Antônio Houaiss ► Affonso Arinos de Mello Franco ► Fernanda Montenegro
18 (João Francisco Lisboa): José Veríssimo ► Barão Homem de Melo ► Alberto Faria ► Luís Carlos ► Pereira da Silva ► Peregrino Júnior ► Arnaldo Niskier
19 (Joaquim Caetano): Alcindo Guanabara ► Silvério Gomes Pimenta ► Gustavo Barroso ► Silva Melo ► Américo Jacobina Lacombe ► Marcos Almir Madeira ► Antônio Carlos Secchin
20 (Joaquim Manuel de Macedo): Salvador de Mendonça ► Emílio de Meneses ► Humberto de Campos ► Múcio Leão ► Aurélio de Lira Tavares ► Murilo Melo Filho ► Gilberto Gil

Chairs
21 to 30

21 (Joaquim Serra): José do Patrocínio ► Mário de Alencar ► Olegário Mariano ► Álvaro Moreira ► Adonias Filho ► Dias Gomes ► Roberto Campos ► Paulo Coelho
22 (José Bonifácio the Younger): Medeiros e Albuquerque ► Miguel Osório de Almeida ► Luís Viana Filho ► Ivo Pitanguy ► João Almino
23 (José de Alencar): Machado de Assis ► Lafayette Rodrigues Pereira ► Alfredo Pujol ► Otávio Mangabeira ► Jorge Amado ► Zélia Gattai ► Luiz Paulo Horta ► Antônio Torres
24 (Júlio Ribeiro): Garcia Redondo ► Luís Guimarães Filho ► Manuel Bandeira ► Cyro dos Anjos ► Sábato Magaldi ► Geraldo Carneiro
25 (Junqueira Freire): Franklin Dória ► Artur Orlando da Silva ► Ataulfo de Paiva ► José Lins do Rego ► Afonso Arinos de Melo Franco ► Alberto Venancio Filho
26 (Laurindo Rabelo): Guimarães Passos ► João do Rio ► Constâncio Alves ► Ribeiro Couto ► Gilberto Amado ► Mauro Mota ► Marcos Vilaça
27 (Antônio Peregrino Maciel Monteiro): Joaquim Nabuco ► Dantas Barreto ► Gregório da Fonseca ► Levi Carneiro ► Otávio de Faria ► Eduardo Portella ► Antonio Cícero
28 (Manuel Antônio de Almeida): Inglês de Sousa ► Xavier Marques ► Menotti Del Picchia ► Oscar Dias Correia ► Domício Proença Filho
29 (Martins Pena): Artur Azevedo ► Vicente de Carvalho ► Cláudio de Sousa ► Josué Montello ► José Mindlin ► Geraldo Holanda Cavalcanti
30 (Pardal Mallet): Pedro Rabelo ► Heráclito Graça ► Antônio Austregésilo ► Aurélio Buarque de Holanda Ferreira ► Nélida Piñon ► Heloísa Teixeira

Chairs
31 to 40

31 (Pedro Luís Pereira de Sousa): Luís Caetano Pereira Guimarães Júnior ► João Batista Ribeiro de Andrade Fernandes ► Paulo Setúbal ► Cassiano Ricardo ► José Cândido de Carvalho ► Geraldo França de Lima ► Moacyr Scliar ► Merval Pereira
32 (Manuel de Araújo Porto-Alegre): Carlos de Laet ► Ramiz Galvão ► Viriato Correia ► Joracy Camargo ► Genolino Amado ► Ariano Suassuna ► Zuenir Ventura
33 (Raul Pompeia): Domício da Gama ► Fernando Magalhães ► Luís Edmundo ► Afrânio Coutinho ► Evanildo Bechara
34 (Sousa Caldas): João Manuel Pereira da Silva ► José Maria da Silva Paranhos Jr. ► Lauro Müller ► Aquino Correia ► Magalhães Júnior ► Carlos Castelo Branco ► João Ubaldo Ribeiro ► Zuenir Ventura ► Evaldo Cabral de Mello
35 (Tavares Bastos): Rodrigo Otávio ► Rodrigo Otávio Filho ► José Honório Rodrigues ► Celso Cunha ► Cândido Mendes de Almeida ► Godofredo de Oliveira Neto
36 (Teófilo Dias): Afonso Celso ► Clementino Fraga ► Paulo Carneiro ► José Guilherme Merquior ► João de Scantimburgo ► Fernando Henrique Cardoso
37 (Tomás António Gonzaga): José Júlio da Silva Ramos ► José de Alcântara Machado ► Getúlio Vargas ► Assis Chateaubriand ► João Cabral de Melo Neto ► Ivan Junqueira ► Ferreira Gullar ► Arno Wehling
38 (Tobias Barreto): Graça Aranha ► Alberto Santos-Dumont ► Celso Vieira ► Maurício Campos de Medeiros ► José Américo de Almeida ► José Sarney
39 (Francisco Adolfo de Varnhagen): Manuel de Oliveira Lima ► Alberto de Faria ► Rocha Pombo ► Rodolfo Garcia ► Elmano Cardim ► Otto Lara Resende ► Roberto Marinho ► Marco Maciel ► José Paulo Cavalcanti Filho
40 (José Maria da Silva Paranhos Sr.): Eduardo Prado ► Afonso Arinos ► Miguel Couto ► Alceu Amoroso Lima ► Evaristo de Moraes Filho ► Edmar Bacha