João Guimarães Rosa

João Guimarães Rosa, born in 1908 in Cordisburgo, Brazil, was a novelist and short story writer whose innovative prose style, derived from the oral tradition of the sertão (the vast hinterlands or backlands of Brazil), revitalized Brazilian fiction in the mid-20th century. His portrayal of the conflicts of the Brazilian backlanders in his native state of Minas Gerais reflects the problems of an isolated rural society adjusting to a modern urban world. His epic novel, Grande Sertão: Veredas, which grew out of Corpo de Baile and was published in 1956, firmly established his international reputation. Turning exclusively to the short story, Guimarães Rosa published several more collections before his death, notably Primeiras Estórias in 1962. He died of a heart attack in Rio de Janeiro in 1967 and is today celebrated as one of the greatest Brazilian writers who ever lived.