Brazilian · 1881–1922
Lima Barreto (Afonso Henriques de Lima Barreto) was a Brazilian novelist, short story writer and journalist born in Rio de Janeiro in 1881. The grandson of enslaved people, he studied engineering, left when his father fell ill, and worked as a clerk in the War Ministry. He wrote about the lives of poor suburban Cariocas, racism, and the hypocrisy of the Republic's elites. His books include Recordações do Escrivão Isaías Caminha, Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, Numa e a Ninfa and Clara dos Anjos. He wrote for newspapers and satirical magazines, and his plain, direct style set him apart from the ornate literary fashion of his day. He struggled with alcoholism and was twice committed to a psychiatric hospital, experiences he recorded in Diário do Hospício. Critics largely ignored or dismissed him during his life. He died in Rio in 1922, aged 41. Later generations of readers and scholars recognized him as one of Brazil's most important writers and an early voice on race and class.