The Book of Rio: A City in Short Fiction (Reading the City) - Softcover

Joćo Gilberto Noll; Domingos Pellegrini; Elvira Vigna; Patricia Melo; Joćo Ximenes Braga; Cesar Cardoso; Luiz Ruffato; Nei Lopes; Sergio Sant'Anna; Marcelo Moutinho

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1905583680 ISBN 13: 9781905583683

Publisher: Comma Press, 2014

Synopsis

It's the city the rest of the world descends on to party.... whether for the spectacular annual Carnival, the sun-kissed beaches, the World Cup, or, in 2016, the Olympics. It's also a place that s sadly become synonymous with some of the excesses of partying, the dark underbelly that accompanies any urban hedonist's destination. But these are just two images of Rio. There are countless others: opulent seat of two former empires; stronghold of brutal, twentieth-century dictatorships; sprawling metropolis stretched between stunning mountain tops and equally stunning economic extremes from the affluence of neighbourhoods like Leblon and Ipanema, to the overcrowded slums in the foothills, the favelas. This anthology brings together ten short stories that go beyond the postcards and snapshots, and introduce us to real residents of Rio the cariocas: young hopefuls training to be the next stars of samba, exhausted labourers press-ganged into meeting an impossible construction deadline (the nation s pride being at stake), bored call-girls, nostalgic drag queens, married couples having petty middle-class domestics.... These are characters who've developed a deep understanding of Rio's contradictions, a way of living with the grey areas between the grime and the glitz that make Rio the marvellous city it is.

About this title

About the Author

Joćo Ximenes Braga was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1970 and has published novellas, short stories and articles. He wrote a column in the lifestyle section of O Globo, for which he was the New York correspondent and now writes for TV. His latest work, the period-drama soap opera Side by Side won the 2013 International Emmy Award for Best Soap Opera. Sergio Sant'Anna was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1941 and is one of Brazil s most provocative writers. In the 1970s he was part of Brazil's literary avant-garde, which attempted to link experimental literary forms with revolutionary commitment. He has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Jabuti Prize four times for novels and stories. His last volume of stories O vōo da madrugada ( The early Morning Flight ) was widely reviewed and awarded another Jabuti Prize, and confirmed Sant'Anna's importance and his role as a model for the young generation of Brazilian writers. Patricia Melo mainly writes crime works and is known for her books dedicated to criminology. She is married to conductor John Neschling. In 2001, she won the Tortoise Literature Prize and in the same year she turned to theatre with her play Two Women and a Corpse. In film, she was known for adapting Rubem Fonseca s book Bufo & Spallanzani to the big screen. In 1999, Time magazine included her among the fifty Latin American Leaders for the New Millennium'. She lives in Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paulo.

Edition details

• Publisher: Comma Press
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1905583680
• ISBN 13: 9781905583683
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Toni Marques, Katie Slade