The Epoch Times recently interviewed award-winning Brazilian author and journalist Lucius de Mello through emails. This is the first of a series which will focus on his past accomplishments, his present work, and his plans for the future. Lucius de Mello's birthplace means "noisy waters," in the indigenous language of the Tupi-Guarani tribe. When asked if the name of his birthplace influenced his writing style, de Mello said, "I would say yes, that my words flow more like tranquil waters, but they also have moments of noisy waters.
The author understands the balance of each. "Don't forget that under the peacefulness of an apparent calm of an ocean there are mysterious and agitated profundities and that under the fast movement of noisy waters, it can have a great deal of peace and calm. This duality only enriches literature."
"Therefore, living beings live in and out of the duality. There is noise in the silence. And there is silence in the noise."
In the three books that de Mello completed, he suggested the moments of tranquil and noisy waters alternate.
A Writer is Born
Brazilian author and journalist Lucius de Mello was born in Bariri, a small city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil on March 9, 1964. De Mello, the oldest of three children, currently resides in the city of São Paulo. His father passed away last year, but his mother is still living.
De Mello learned to enjoy reading in his grandfather's library. His grandfather, father, and aunts always encouraged de Mello to read and to enjoy books as a young boy. His grandfather, a writer and historian, wrote the history of their city.
De Mello knew at a young age that he wanted to become a writer. He began to write his first novel at 12 years of age. It was about the history of a slave named Yêda, but he didn't complete it.
"I think I was born with the talent of writing in my blood," said de Mello.
He went on to study journalism at the Universidade Federal do Paraná, in Curitiba—because he thought a journalist's profession was more like that of a writer. But today, he is trying to live a life filled only with literature.
De Mello worked 14 years as reporter for the largest Brazilian television network: O Rede Globo. In 2000, he was at NASA in Houston to report on the first Brazilian astronaut's training. He also has won and become a finalist in important journalistic awards in Brazil. After more than 30 years of writing, de Mello has garnered the titles of novelist, journalist, and researcher.
De Mello likes to conduct historical investigations, telling real stories, and saving them from the "armadilhas do esquecimento" or snares of forgetfulness. He also writes fiction.
Destiny Signals a Writer
"I believe that my destiny for literature was signaled in a very special way. I would say, even in a very literary way." De Mello was six months old when this signal arrived.
"It was as if Kafka and his Gregor and Samsa came to notify me of my destiny as a writer."
De Mello explained, "I was crawling, still not knowing how to walk. I was in the living room and my mother was sweeping the floor. She didn't see that there was a dead cockroach behind her. I crawled towards the cockroach, I grasped it with my hands, and I put it in my mouth." "I choked on the insect. I almost died. A neighbor helped my mother to remove the cockroach from my throat. And in spite of the great fright, everything ended up well.
"I was born again, after they removed the cockroach from inside of me. Isn't this too Kafkaesque?"
The First Novel: A Violin for Cats
His first book— Um Violino para os Gatos or A Violin for Cats —was released in 1995. It is a book of fictional stories. De Mello shared that one of the stories from the first book is called, "The Young Man That Gobbled the Cockroach" about an adolescent addicted to drugs who has a hallucinatory episode while suffering an overdose. He imagines his body is being invaded by an army of cockroaches.
He said that that the whole story is like rapids filled with noisy waters. It is especially so, because part of it was inspired by the cockroach episode that happened with de Mello while he was an infant.
The Second Novel: Eny and the Great Brazilian Bordello
Released in 2002, the biography, Eny and the Great Brazilian Bordello tells the history of the largest Brazilian brothel and the most famous brothel in Brazil. De Mello was a finalist for the 2003 Jabuti Award for Biographical News Reporting for this work. The Jabuti is the foremost Brazilian literary prize.
Ten years in the making, the book is currently being adapted for movies and television.
"I needed all that time because, at that moment, I worked as a reporter for TV Globo and I had to divide my time between my television work and the research."
De Mello wanted to write the biography because at that time, he lived and worked in Bauru, the interior of São Paulo–the city where the largest Brazilian brothel existed. As a reporter, de Mello found it important to investigate this story because the brothel was especially frequented by famous politicians in Brazil—even a politician that later became president of the country. "Readers enjoyed as I narrated the story, as my words wrapped up the reader."
The book gained exposure and praise in the largest Brazilian newspapers and featured on the country's major television shows. The biography also was on the bestselling book list for nearly three months.
The next in the series will take a close look at his most recent work, A Travessia da Terra Vermelha, or Crossing the Red Land. This newest novel to his collection investigates Jewish immigration into Brazil prior to World War II, and looks at how these refugees lived during and after the Holocaust.
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