José Luandino Vieira

  • José Luandino Vieira
© DR
Writer
Principal country concerned : Column : Literature
Angola

José Luandino Vieira (born José Vieira Mateus da Graça on May 4, 1935) is an Angolan writer of short fiction and novels.

Vieira was born in Lagoa de Furadouro, Ourém, Portugal and was Portuguese by birth and ethnicity, but his parents immigrated to Angola in 1938 and he grew up immersed in the African quarters (musseques) of Luanda. He wrote in the language unique to the musseque, a fusion of Kimbundu and Portuguese. He left school at the age of fifteen and worked as a mechanic. He was devoted to Angolan independence, resulting in his arrest in 1961 after an interview with the BBC in which he disclosed secret lists of deserters from the Portuguese army fighting in Africa. He would remain in jail for eleven years.

Vieira's works often followed the structure of the African oral narrative and dealt with the harsh realities of Portuguese rule in Angola. His best-known work was his early short story collection, Luuanda (1963), which received a Portuguese writers' literary award in 1965, though it was banned by the Portuguese government until 1974 due to its examination of the oppressiveness of the colonial administration in Angola. His novella A vida verdadeira de Domingos Xavier (The Real Life of Domingos Xavier; 1974) portrayed both the cruelty of the Portuguese administration and the courage of ordinary Angolans during the colonial period.

Vieira also served as secretary-general of the Union of Angolan writers, and in that capacity helped get the works of other Angolan authors and poets published.

Vieira turned down the 100,000 Euros Camões Literary Prize awarded to him in May 2006.


Prizes, awards:
- Grande Prémio de Novelística da Sociedade Portuguesa de Escritores (Prémio Camilo Castelo Branco) (1965)
- Prémio Sociedade Cultural de Angola (1961)
- Casa dos Estudantes do Império - Lisboa (1963)
- Prémio Mota Veiga (1963)
- Associação de Naturais de Angola (1963)
- Prémio Camões (2006)

Bibliography:
Short-stories
- A cidade e a infância, 1957; 1986
- Duas histórias de pequenos burgueses, 1961
- Luuanda, 1963; 2004
- Vidas novas, 1968; 1997
- Velhas histórias, 1974; 2006
- Duas histórias, 1974
- No antigamente, na vida, 1974; 2005
- Macandumba, 1978; 2005
- Lourentinho, Dona Antónia de Sousa Neto & eu, 1981; 1989
- História da baciazinha de Quitaba, 1986
Novels
- A vida verdadeira de Domingos Xavier, 1961; 2003
- João Vêncio. Os seus amores, 1979; 2004
- Nosso Musseque, 2003
- Nós, os do Makulusu, 1974; 2004
- O Livro dos Rios (1º vol. of the trilogy De rios velhos e guerrilheiros), 2006
- O Livro dos Guerrilheiros (2º vol. of the trilogy trilogia De rios velhos e guerrilheiros), 2006
Juvenile
- A guerra dos fazedores de chuva com os caçadores de nuvens. Guerra para crianças, 2006
Others
- Kapapa: pássaros e peixes, 1998
- À espera do luar, 1998

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