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RIO – The writer died this Sunday at the age of 78. Sergio Sant’Anna, victim of the new coronavirus. One of the main authors of the country, entered the Quinta D’Or, in São Cristovão, North Zone of Rio, from day 3, with the symptoms of the disease. The news was released by the author’s sister, also a writer Sonia Sant’Anna, and confirmed to GLOBO by her son André Sant’Anna.
Born in Rio in 1941, Sérgio Sant’Anna had completed his 50th career last October. His first storybook, “The Survivor”, was published on his own, with money borrowed from his father. Success came soon after, but the son never paid for it. In the previous year, he had participated in May 68 marches in Paris, where he studied political science thanks to a postgraduate scholarship, and the Prague Spring.
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After spending eight months in an author training program in the United States, he published three more books in the 1970s: the short story collection “Notes by Manfredo Rangel, reporter” (1973) and the novels “Ralfo’s Confessions” (1975) and “Simulacra” (1977). Until today seen as one of his best books, “Ralfo’s Confessions” (1975) narrates the adventures of a writer who decides to compose an imaginary autobiography full of improbable episodes.
However, it was in the story that the author found his greatest expression, being recognized as one of the great storytellers of his generation. He had several award-winning collections, including the Jabuti for “João Gilberto Concert in Rio de Janeiro” (1986), the Telecom Prize for “The Flight of Dawn” (2003) and the Clarice Lispector Prize for “The Prague Book” (2011 )
Even with the progressive devaluation of the genre in Brazil over the years, its collections continued to have a loyal audience. The author calculated that none of his books sold less than 5,000 copies (a very reasonable number for national fiction).
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“The fidelity is because I started (my career) in the story,” he said in an interview with GLOBO in 2016. “I was acquiring the format. I always think of a termination. I don’t want to stretch. It is my vocation.”
The writer was also successful in other formats. He won two Jabutis for the soap opera “Amazona” (1986) and the novel “Um crime delicado” (1997), which was adapted for film by Beto Brant in 2005.
Cinema, by the way, has always honored its literature. The story that gives title to the collection “A Senhorita Simpson” (1989) became the feature film “Bossa nova”, by Bruno Barreto. The play “Um Romance de Geração” gave rise to a film directed by David França Mendes in 2008.
Enthusiastic about analysis (“Without it, I would feel maimed,” he once said “), Sant’Anna used his sessions, which he kept for more than three decades, as inspiration for writing. In recent years, he avoided venturing into relationships and He saw that his love life ended after the 70s. Passionate supporter of Fluminense, he missed the old Rio, in a nostalgia that was reflected in his latest collection of short stories, “Ano zero”.
“(Rio) was more pleasant,” he said in an interview with GLOBO in 2016. “Today there are too many people. Terrible traffic. A lot of violence. You can call me nostalgic. Copacabana was a paradise. And the childhood of Botafogo.” the number of people and cars hampered not only Rio, but Brazil. “
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Sant’Anna’s latest book, “Anjo noche”, was released in 2018. In the review published by GLOBO, the critic Miguel Conde saw in the collection of stories the hope that “Brazil has not yet been reduced to a meeting of troglodytes. ” . “In other times, it would be” simply “another good book by one of the best Brazilian writers. In current circumstances, it is a job to spread among friends, family and coworkers,” he wrote.
