LÚCIA HELENA VIANNA  

Translated by John D. Godinho

LÚCIA HELENA DE OLIVEIRA VIANNA ( lhvianna@uol.com.br ) was born in São Gonçalo, in the State of Rio de Janeiro, on December 28, 1943.  Her father, Mário Pinto Vianna, a businessman; her mother, Lealdina de Oliveira Vianna, a dressmaker.  Lúcia completed elementary school in the city of her birth.  She obtained her degree in education from Federal Fluminense University, in Niterói (RJ), in 1965, where, in 1978, she submitted a dissertation for her Master’s Degree, entitled  A ponta do Novelo (The End of the Ball of Yarn) (Ática: São Paulo, 1983), based on Graciliano Ramos’s novel Angústia.  She received a Doctorate of Literature from São Paulo University.  Her doctor’s thesis was published as a book entitled Cenas de amor e morte na ficção brasileira (Scenes of Love and Death in Brazilian Fiction), which was awarded the Casa de las Américas Prize, in 1996.

She retired as Professor of Brazilian Literature at Federal Fluminense University and is a researcher for the CNPq (Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico)(National Council for Scientific and Technological Development). At present, she does research on the private and public writings of Brazilian authors. She also provides guidance, as thesis advisor, for two theses in the area of Brazilian and Comparative Literature, with emphasis on Studies on Women and Literature and on Gender Studies.  Her book Cenas de Amor e Morte na Ficção Brasileira (Scenes of Love and Death in Brazilian Fiction) was published in Spanish (Cuba, 1997) and in Brazil by EDUFF (1999). In 1997, she published São Bernardo, A Reading Guide (Ática, São Paulo).  As an essayist,  she received a prize for her participation in the “Best Essays on Contemporary Brazilian Literature Competition”, sponsored by Jornal do Brasil (Rio de Janeiro, 1989) Among her more recent essays are Tinta e Sangue: as relações entre o íntimo e o público em Clarice Lispector e Frida Kahlo (Paint and Blood:  the relationship between the private and public lives of Clarice Lispector and Frida Kahlo) (Revista Estudos Feministas, n. 11, 2º sem. of 2003), and O espaço das mulheres em Memórias do Cárcere (The Space Occupied by Women in Memórias do Cárcere) (unpublished work).  In addition to the above-mentioned books, she has participated in a number of collective works and written for specialized magazines. Recently she compiled, together with Márcia Lígia Guidin, an anthology of short stories written by women (Contos de escritoras brasileiras) (Short Stories by Brazilian Women Writers), which is in the production stage, to be published by Editora Martins Fontes, of São Paulo. She has acted as advisor to the State Council for Women’s Rights (CEDIM/RJ).  She is married to Jayme Antunes Filho, an accountant, and lives in the city of Rio de Janeiro at  828 Avenida Nossa Senhora de Copacabana, Apt. 1101.   

She is the author of the biography of  Cecília Meireles on the site of Vidas Lusófonas.