Nava, Pedro 1903–1984

PERSONAL: Born June 5, 1903; committed suicide 1984, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Education: Internato do Colégio Pedro II, M.D., 1927.

CAREER: Physician, poet, and writer. Rheumatologist practicing in Minas and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Cofounder, A Revista (literary review), 1925.

WRITINGS:

O defunto. Xilogravura de Calasans Neto, Ed. Macunaíma (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), 1967.

Memórias (memoir), Sabiá (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1972–83.

Baú de ossos (memoir; title means "Trunk of Bones"), Sabiá (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1972.

Balão cativo (memoir; title means "Captive Balloon"), poetry by Carlos Drummond de Andrade and José Geraldo Nogueira Moutinho, J. Olympio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1973.

Chão de ferro (memoir; title means "Iron Ground"), poems by Alphonsus de Guimaraens Filho and Fernando da Rocha Peres, J. Olympio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1976.

Beira-mar (memoir), poetry by Alphonsus de Guimaraens Filho and Nei Leandro de Castro, J. Olympio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1978.

Galo-das-trevas: as doze velas imperfeitas (memoir), poetry by Gastão Castro Neto and Olavo Drummond, J. Olympio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1981.

(With Mário de Andrade) Correspondente contumaz: caras a Pedro Nava, 1925–1944,, Editora Nova Fronteira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1982.

Pedro Nava (selected writings), Abril Educação (São Paulo, Brazil), 1983.

O círio perfeito (memoir), Editora Nova Fronteira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1983.

(With Carlos Drummond de Andrade) Rua da Bahia, edited by Nísia Maria Duarte Werneck and Luiz Henrique Horta Silva, Editor UFMG (Belo Horizonte, Brazil), 1996.

O bicho urucutum, edited by Paulo Penido, Editora Giordano (São Paulo, Brazil), 1998.

Viagem ao Egito, Jordânia e Israel: anotações extradídas dos diários do autor, Ateliê Editora Giordano (São Paulo, Brazil), 1998.

Cadernos 1 e 2, edited by Plínio Martins Filho and Cl'udio Giordano, Editora Giordano (São Paulo, Brazil), 1999.

O anfiteatro; para estudantes de medicina (selected text), selected by Paul Penido, Oricina do Livro Rubens Borba de Moreas (São Paulo, Brazil), 2002.

Território de Epidauro: crônicas e histórias da história da medicina, Ateliê Editorial (São Paulo, Brazil), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: Pedro Nava spent most of his professional life as a physician practicing rheumatology. He began his writing career as modernist poet but was unpublished except for his writings in medical books and journals. In 1968, however, he began to write his memoirs, which received wide critical notice and effusive praise when they began to appear in the early 1970s. Writing in the Times Literary Supplement, J.G. Merquior noted that "Baú de ossos and Balão cativo took both public and critics by storm, tired as they were of the sterile formalism of the local brands of nouveau roman." In all, Nava wrote six books of memoirs. Critics noted Nava's Proustian approach both in terms of writing style and the use of time in his memoirs, which are not chronological. Instead, the author focuses more on the meaning of his experiences as he simultaneously writes about and reassesses them, as well as the people and events of his times.

Nava was not just concerned with the "big" events in life; as noted by Merquior in the Times Literary Supplement, the author "recalls the minutiae of Brazilian cuisine or of sartorial fashion with as much gusto and accuracy as public events or influential ideas." Writing in World Literature Today, Wilson Martins called Nava's memoirs "the marvelous story of another age with another set of mores and values." The Department of Culture of the State of São Paulo sponsors the Pedro Nava Award in Literature.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Nava, Pedro, Memórias, Sabiá (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1972–83.

Nava, Pedro, Baú de ossos, Sabiá (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1972.

Nava, Pedro, Balão cativo, J. Olympio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1973.

Nava, Pedro, Chão de ferro, J. Olympio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1976.

Nava, Pedro, Beira-mar, J. Olympio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1978.

Nava, Pedro, Galo-das-trevas: as doze velas imperfeitas, J. Olympio (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1981.

Nava, Pedro, O círio perfeito, Editora Nova Fronteira (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), 1983.

PERIODICALS

Itinerarios: Revista de Literature, Volume 12, 1998, "Espaco e Experiemencia," pp. 59-65, "Moret e Retratos em Nava e Paes," pp. 297-308, "A Formacao Intelectual e Geral e a Educacao," pp. 349-357.

Minas Gerais, April 26, 1975, "As memorias de Pedro Nava," p. 8; November 26, 1983, "Pedro Nava e Seus Baus de Ossos," p. 3, "Belorizonte de Pedro Nava," pp. 6-7, "O Amigo Pedro Nava," p. 8, "Carta de Mario de Andrade a Pedro Nava," p. 11; March, 1985, "Memoiras, um Ato de Rebeldia de Pedro Nava," p. 8; August, 1987, "Um Rio em Nossa Vida," pp. 10-13; April 20, 1991, "A Forma Anfibia," pp. 13-14.

O Estado de São Paulo, Suplemento Literario, December 17, 1972, "Pedro Nava,", p. 1; April 7, 1974, "Dois memorialistas: Pedro Nava e Erico Verissimo," p. 6.

Quadran, Volume 8, 1991, "Cidades de memoria em Drummond e Nava," pp. 175-182.

Times Literary Supplement, August 6, 1976, J.G. Merquior, review of Chão de ferro, p. 995.

World Literature Today, autumn, 1982, Wilson Martins, review of Galo-das-trevas: as doze velas imperfeitas, p. 666; autumn, 1984, Wilson Martins, review of O círio perfeito, p. 578.