O nome do escritor Maciel de Aguiar foi encaminhado ao PEN International, sediado em Londres, Inglaterra, para ser referendo na Academia Sueca, em Estocolmo, Suécia, como uma indicação do PEN do Brasil ao Prêmio Nobel de Literatura, a mais importante condecoração mundial que, além da prestigiada honraria acadêmica, oferece ao vencedor a quantia de 1 milhão de dólares, o que representa cerca de 5 milhões de reais.
Maciel de Aguiar é o único escritor capixaba indicado ao Prêmio Nobel de Literatura e se junta a Jorge Amado, Érico Veríssimo e Lygia Fagundes Telles, dentre outros, e afirmou:
“Ganhar o Prêmio Nobel é muito importante até em memória de Jorge Amado, que reuniu mais possibilidades e não ganhou, mas reconhecer que escrevi sobre uma geração que teve a morte lambendo os calcanhares e muitos não tiveram direito à sepultura é uma grande vitória”.
O escritor agradeceu ao PEN do Brasil pela indicação e disse:
“Mesmo tendo o privilégio de escrever sobre os mais importantes brasileiros — Pelé, Oscar Niemeyer, Roberto Carlos e Ayrton Senna —, o fato de ser lembrado pelas pesquisas pioneiras no Brasil, com base na oralidade, entrevistando centenas de quilombolas que enfrentaram a escravidão, para escrever 40 livros sobre esses heróis negros esquecidos, já é um Prêmio Nobel, não precisaria de outro!”
Segue o Oficio do PEN Brasil ao PEN International
BURBAN SONMEZ
President of PEN INTERNATIONAL
LONDON – ENGLAND
The PEN Club of Brazil, based in the city of Rio de Janeiro, affiliated to PEN International, located in London, England, whose objective is to “promote literature and freedom of expression”, has the honour of nominating Brazilian author and member of our institution, MACIEL DE AGUIAR for the NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE for the following reasons.
We often only happen to notice the generous and sublime grandness of life when we have lived for a far longer time than we have left. So, with a nearing time limit in mind for this reflection, 70 years of life entitle – especially those who have this privilege – to tell their stories that should serve as examples to those who are just about to begin their first adventures and those who have started their journeys.
Thus, writer Maciel de Aguiar tells us an emotional story about a little boy who was born in Conceição da Barra, in the State of Espirito Santo, Brazil, and who became enthralled after being gifted a foreign book at age 4. There was only one problem: nobody in that tiny city in a forgotten part of the country was able to read the language. Possibly this is the reason why the boy wanted to be alphabetized in Danish.
The person who had gifted him the book was Steffen Broby Pontoppidan – the son of Henrik Pontoppidan who had won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1917 – a man who wore two different coloured shoes on his feet and who felt great pride in being a laureate’s son. Although back then, most people didn’t understand the significance of the Nobel Prize or literature itself and nobody seemed to be interested in the stories of the mentioned book, however the boy insisted to hear them in Danish.
Astonished, Steffen read, multiple times, those stories of distant Denmark in the long afternoon shades at the Tupy Bar, until the boy had memorized the pronunciation of most of those “strange words”. During moonlit nights he would keep the book under his pillow and dream of those adventures of the polar bear until one day his parents were summoned to the Joaquim Fonseca school’s principal’s office where they were told to: – Take this damn book away from your son so he can be alphabetized in Portuguese!
As a conclusion, the “boy with the book” was the only student who had to repeat the first grade. And to take revenge, he then decided to read the book Isbjørnen “in Danish”. His father, Walter Aguiar, went through with the principal’s “determination”, a judge’s “order” and a “threat” by the priest, and threw the book into the waters of the River Cricaré. That day, the whole town cried along with the boy!
At age 7, heshouted in the school’s corridors “one day I will have my own book published in Danish and I will also win a Nobel Prize in Literature!” Soon after, his parents decided to move to the nearby city of São Mateus. Until this day, the “boy with the book” has not won the biggest prize in literature but he has published 143 books, among them PELÉ – THE KING OF FOOTBALL, which was translated into many languages, including Danish!
At age 10 the boy was asked by his father what he wanted to be one day and replied: “I want to be a writer and poet”. Walter Aguiar himself was a retired sailor and diver who had experienced being shipwrecked and who had travelled to many international ports. In one of those ports – Havana, Cuba – he met and became friends with Ernest Hemingway before returning to Brazil shortly after the Second World War where he ended up marrying Odete Maciel.
When the young Maciel de Aguiar decided to become a “writer and poet”, he started his literary adventure with the profound influence of two Nobel Prize winners who influenced his life and work – Henrik Pontoppidan, the laureate of 1917, and Ernest Hemingway, who had published his book THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA coincidentally in the same year Aguiar was born.
When the father heard his first-born son insisting in his dream to become an author, he gifted him a copy of The Old Man and the Sea, written by his friend Ernest Hemingway. After reading the book countless times and hearing about disturbing records of slavery in his region, he became interested in the topic and wanted to know more about how and why black people had been transformed into slaves in one of the most perverse slavery systems in Brazil. These stories and often “forgotten” facts by the official historiography were immortalized by the young author.
At age 13, Maciel de Aguiar started the epic process of interviewing hundreds of black Brazilians whose ancestors had been enslaved and shipped there from distant Africa and ended up producing a pioneer piece of work that had never been seen before in Brazilian literature. Based mostly on oral accounts by those affected by slavery, his work brought countless Afro-Brazilian heroes back to life and after three decades he published his collection of 40 books “HISTÓRIA DOS QUILOMBOLAS“ (QUILOMBOLAS HISTORY).
In 1968, Maciel de Aguiar stopped his research regarding Afro-Brazilian heroes for some time to write and publish his first book, motivated by the longing for liberty during the military dictatorship that had taken over in Brazil in 1964. By 1971 he was already associated with literature and journalism and moved to Rio de Janeiro and later São Paulo to start a new chapter: writing about those braving the ruthless regime.
Therefore, for eternal two decades, the young writer went underground, wrote around 80 short books, printed via a mimeograph and stapled by hand in some run-down hostels in Lapa, Catete and Gamboa in Rio de Janeiro and later in Brás, São Paulo, where he narrated the dramatic daily life of those who dared to face the oppressive regime, struggling to escape deathly consequences.
After the amnesty, Maciel de Aguiar published “OS ANOS DE CHUMBO” (THE YEARS OF LEAD) in 4 volumes, combining his enormous literary collection that had been written as a poetic response to the military regime, exposing torture, disappearances, imprisonments, and deaths of hundreds of Brazilians whose corpses hadn’t even had been granted the right for a burial. His work became a finalist in the biggest Brazilian literary award, The Jabuti.
Since the 1960ies writer Maciel de Aguiar has created a vigorous body of work, with commitment to liberty, human rights, advocating against torture and rescuing long forgotten Afro-Brazilian heroes who had faced nearly 300 years of slavery in Brazil. He published what the press or official entities failed to disclose and acknowledge, and many didn’t dare to open their mouths about these centuries-old and more contemporary crimes.
Today the fact that Maciel de Aguiar was once influenced by two Nobel Prize laureates – the Dane Henrik Pontoppidan and the American Ernest Hemingway – affecting his life and his decision to become a writer himself, always committed to fight for freedom of expression, deservedly and justly qualifies him for our nomination for the NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE.
Besides his monumental body of work about Afro-Brazilian heroes facing slavery or his poetic tales about the military dictatorship, Maciel de Aguiar has also written about great modern Brazilian personalities like “King” Pelé, architect Oscar Niemayer, chronicler Rubem Braga, singer and songwriter Roberto Carlos and the late Formula One driver Ayrton Senna.
With a total of 143 published books, some of them translated into English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Danish and even available on kindle via Amazon.com, Maciel de Aguiar is certainly one of the most important contemporary Brazilian authors, often referenced by researchers and those studying or simply interested in Brazil’s history. He is one of the best interpreters of the resistance of this beautiful adventure called Brazilian Civilization.
Thus, in a moment when the world falls victim to a reactionary right-wing wave alongside a dramatic pandemic – especially in Brazil where painful consequences by an insane and science-denying government have led to the death of over 600.000 citizens –, it becomes even more evident that all those societies that value life, human rights and liberty need to react to negligence and authoritarianism.
It’s of utmost importance that literature – as our sublime vessel for freedom of expression and the most powerful pacific weapon against fascism, authoritarianism, and human rights violations – provides an emphatic response to those who are bringing un measurable pain upon their people. We must assure the irrevocable right to all people, in every country and continent, so they can live the adventures their respective civilizations have in store.
With his literature rescuing stories about black heroes who dared the slavery system and had been “forgotten” by official historiographers and especially his work exposing the crimes during the military dictatorship, writer MACIEL DE AGUIAR has become one of Brazil’s most significant authors due to his body of work devoted to human rights.
MACIEL DE AGUIAR participated in the redemocratization movement in Brazil, is a member of several democratic institutions – like the GRUPO TORTURA NUNCA MAIS DO RIO DE JANEIRO (THE TORTURE NEVER AGAIN GROUP IN RIO DE JANEIRO), he is also a supporter of other key issues like the environment, the illegal land-grab from indigenous tribes, the landless rural worker cause – and the safeguarding of the historical, national memory.
In this context, the SWEDISH ACADEMY – a secular institution that distinguishes itself due to its relevant role of recognizing science and advocating for free-thinking –, continues to commit itself to award the NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE to those who excel in intelligent developments, science, arts and defenders of democratic liberties.
As of now, no Brazilian has ever been considered for the NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE, and as this country is currently facing a possible institutional rupture, the body of work by MACIEL DE AGUIAR can be considered a warning, especially since it is based on two dramatic time periods that vilified our national soul: the time of slavery where five million Africans were shackled and taken from their homelands and the time of the military dictatorship in Brazil after 1964.
On the occasion of his 70th birthday, the “boy with the book” will be honoured with an exposition that will be held in all those places where he walked, lived and wrote; Conceição da Barra, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Ponte Nova, Vitória and São Mateus. It will be a journey to witness an emotional, extraordinary, and incomparable story of determination, resilience and the accomplishment of a life full of dreams, wishes and utopias.
In the view of the above, the PEN Club Brazil, is pleased to support and nominate our fellow writer MACIEL DE AGUIAR for the NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE. This nomination would honour our institution and amplify the struggles for freedom in Brazilian literature. Hence, I am kindly requesting the PEN International to forward this nomination to the SWEDISH ACADEMY in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sincerely,
Ricardo Cravo Albin
President of PEN Brazil
Bibliography
Books published by Maciel de Aguiar between 1968 and 2021
02 – As horas do desterro (Times of Banishment)
03 – A dança das cabeças (A Dance of Heads)
04 – O dia de hoje (Nowadays)
05 – O anjo acidentado (The Injured Angel)
06 – A palavra sublime (A Sublime Word)
07 – Passeata dos mortos (The Walk of the Dead)
08 – Um grito nas trevas (A Cry in the Darkness)
09 – Corpos em fuga (Vanishing Bodies)
10 – As marcas do suplício (The Traces of Torment)
11 – Funeral do homem (Man’s Funeral)
12 – Solidão (Solitude)
13 – O tempo etéreo (The Ethereal Time)
14 – Canção dos vinte anos (Song of 20 Years)
15 – Os vinte anos para sempre (20 Years Forever)
16 – A voz do coração (The Heart’s Voice)
17 – O reflexo das sombras (Reflection of Shadows)
18 – A alma em pedaços (Soul in Pieces)
19 – O colecionador de olhos (The Eye Collector)
20 – As sete cabeças da serpente (The Seven Heads of the Serpent)
21 – Cantiga para um menino morto (Nursery Rhyme for a Dead Boy)
22 – Uma semente na calçada (A Seed on the Sidewalk)
23 – O mar e seus afogados (The Sea and its Drowned)
24 – Pequena canção para uma pátria qualquer (Humble Song por any Homeland)
25 – Canção impossível (An Impossible Song)
26 – Os anjos descem ao inferno (The Angels Descend to Hell)
27 – Meus amigos mortos (My Dead Friends)
28 – Oferta das cabeças (Offering Heads)
29 – As horas do silêncio (The Time of Silence)
30 – Vitrine dos mortos (Display of the Dead)
31 – Um corpo que cai (A Falling Body)
32 – Coração em chamas (A Heart in Flames)
33 – A febre letal (Lethal Fever)
34 – O livro invisível (The Invisible Book)
35 – As tardes de lassidão (Afternoons of Lassitude)
36 – Os dias estranhos (The Strange Days)
37 – O homem sem rosto (The Man Without a Face)
38 – Todas as tardes (Every Afternoon)
39 – A camisa como lembrança (The Souvenir Shirt)
40 – Museu de ossos (Bone Museum)
41 – Soluços na noite (Nightly Sobs)
42 – O amanhã que haverá de vir (The Tomorrow that has to come)
43 – Um tiro no poeta não mata a poesia (Shooting the Poet doesn’t kill Poetry)
44 – Confissão de culpa (Guilt Confession)
45 – Nossa viagem ao inferno (Our Trip to Hell)
46 – O silêncio na dor (Silence in Pain)
47 – O homem clandestino (The Clandestine Man)
48 – A pele tatuada (Tattoed Skin)
49 – A mão invisível (The Invisible Hand)
50 – As cartas na parede (The Letters on the Wall)
51 – O corpo nu (The Nude Body)
52 – O carregador de sombras (Conveyor of Shadows)
53 – Poemas ao vento (Poems to the Wind)
54 – A luz oblíqua (Oblique Light)
55 – Dentro dos corpos (Inside Bodies)
56 – As tardes de chumbo (Afternoons of Lead)
57 – A impossível fuga do coração (The Impossible Escape of the Heart)
58 – Inventário das cinzas (Ash Inventory)
59 – A camisa de banlon (The Ban-Lon Shirt)
60 – O outro lado da face (The Other Side of the Face)
61 – Os meninos feito fênix (Boys like Phoenixes)
62 – O escuro da pálpebra (Darkness of the Eyelid)
63 – A dor feito lâmina (Pain Cuts Like a Blade)
64 – Sobreviventes do medo (Survivors of Fear)
65 – O sol de raios fúlgidos (Sun of Lighting Rays)
66 – O vôo dos pássaros (Flight of the Birds)
67 – O terror eterno (External Terror)
68 – O corpo exangue (The Dying Body)
69 – Catarse (Catharsis)
70 – Os olhos turvos (Turbid Eyes)
71 – A lassidão das horas (The Lassitude of Time)
72 – Petição genuflexa (Genuflecting Petition)
73 – O disfarce no branco (Disguise in White)
74 – A cadeira do dragão (The Dragon’s Seat)
75 – Jugo e rédea (Yoke and Rein)
76 – Não haverá primavera (There Won’t Be a Spring)
77 – As mãos que apedrejam (Hands that Stone)
78 – Nos dias de sol (On Sunny Days)
79 – Os gritos ao lado (The Cries Nearby)
80 – A chama tênue (The Tenuous Flame)
81 – Os anos de chumbo – Volume I (Years of Lead Volume 1)
82 – Os anos de chumbo – Volume II (Years of Lead Volume 2)
83 – Os anos de chumbo – Volume III (Years of Lead Volume 3)
84 – Os anos de chumbo – Volume IV (Years of Lead Volume 4)
85 – Andança (Wandering)
86 – A poeira do tempo (The Dust of Time)
87 – O labirinto das horas (Labyrinth of Time)
88 – Porto das águas e das mágoas (Port of Water and Sorrow)
89 – Conceição da Barra nasceu de um beijo (Conceição da Barra was made from a Kiss)
90 – Poemas para a liberdade – Volume I (Poems for Liberty – Volume 1)
91 – Poemas para a liberdade – Volume II (Poems for Liberty – Volume 2)
92 – Paixão (Passion)
93 – Zacimba Gaba
94 – Benedito Meia-légua
95 – Constância de Angola
96 – Preto Bongo
97 – Viriato Cancão-de-fogo
98 – Negro Rugério
99 – Clara Maria do Rosário
100 – Silvestre Nagô
101 – Mateus Purquério
102 – Beatinho de São Benedito
103 – Chico Pombo
104 – Rosa-Flor
105 – Teodorinho Trinca-ferro
106 – Balduíno Antônio dos Santos
107 – José Antônio Jorge
108 – Zoroastro Valeriano Rodrigues
109 – Chico D’Anta da Viola
110 – Antônio Rosa e Manoel Souto
111 – Pedro de Aurora
112 – Lauro e Rosalvo
113 – Cuxi e Acendino
114 – Tertolino Balbino
115 – Bernardo Cantador
116 – Leodônio Gomes
117 – Dona Antônia Paneleira
118 – Salvino Rodrigues
119 – Pedro Geraldino
120 – Maria Justina
121 – Neném Preta
122 – Zé Coco
123 – José João do Sacramento
124 – Luís Geraldino
125 – Domingos Alcino dos Santos
126 – Dona Cisalpina
127 – São Beneditinho
128 – Os brincantes (The Frolickers)
129 – Os pais-franciscos (The Franciscan Fathers)
130 – Os facãozeiros (The Knife Wielders)
131 – Os rezadores (The Precants)
132 – A brincadeira de boi (The Ox Game)
133 – Sculptures and Masks Archives of the
AfricanBrazil Intercontinental Museum
134 – Os últimos zumbis (The Last of the Zumbi)
135 – Brincantes & Quilombolas
136 – Pelé – o rei da bola (Pelé – The King of Football, published in Portuguese, English, German, Spanish, Italian and French)
138 – Lapa, Catete e Gamboa – crônicas (Chronicles of Lapa, Catete and Gamboa)
139 – Confesso que escrevi – artigos (I confess I am a Writer – Articles)
140 – Nós, os capixabas (We, the people from Espirito Santo)
141 – O sabiá e eu (The Trush and I)
142 – Roberto Carlos – as canções que você fez pra mim (Roberto Carlos – The Songs you made for Me, published in Portuguese and Spanish)
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