Márcio Souza

While at UT Austin in the Spring of 2003 (March 30-April 26) as a Brazilian Writer in Residence, Márcio Souza spent a week at the University of Notre Dame holding the Visiting Chair in the Study of Brazilian Culture.

Souza was born in Manaus, Amazonas, and is an acclaimed novelist, playwright, and director. Much of his writing is about the Amazon region, including his first novel, Galvez - Imperador do Acre (The Emperor of the Amazon), 1976. The novel was immensely successful and widely translated. His other book include Mad Maria, 1980, and A Resistível Ascensão do Boto Tucuxi (The Resistible Rise of McBouto: A Dirty Tragedy), 1982. He is currently writing a tetralogy of historical novels entitled Crônicas do Grão-Pará e Rio Negro.

Souza has worked in the theatre as a playwright and director since the 1970s, and is dedicated to both Amazonian classical music and indigenous mythology. In 1998 he directed the opera Alma (Soul), by Manaus-born classical composer Cláudio Santoro, which had its world premiere at the 3rd Amazonas Opera Festival. He directs the group Teatro Experimental do SESC (SESC Workshop on Experimental Theater), based in Manaus, which has staged several of his plays including A Paixão de Ajuricaba (The Passion of Ajuricaba), about the well-known leader of Manaus tribe who headed revolts against Portuguese colonists, and Dessana, Dessana, a retelling of the Dessana tribe's creation myth.
Souza was nominated by President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to be President of the Brazilian Foundation for the Arts, part of the Ministry of Culture, and headed it from 1995 to 2002. FUNARTE's mission is to promote the practice, development and diffusion of artistic and cultural activity in the fields of theatre, dance, opera, circus, plastic arts, photography, music, folklore, popular culture, film and video. Souza played a key role when the FUNARTE was reorganized in 1994 and advanced its primary objective of preserving Brazil's cultural memory.

Márcio Souza's first novel, The Emperor of the Amazon, set at the time of the rubber boom, was immensely successful when published in 1976. More than 30 novels have followed, plus short stories and plays. During a visit to the Institute in November of 2003, he lectured on "Amazon and Modernity: Rewriting Gone with the Wind." He met widely with students and faculty.

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