Marina Colasanti: biography, works, phrases

Marina Colasanti she is a Brazilian writer. She was born on September 26, 1937, in the city of Asmara, Eritrea. Later, she moved to Brazil, where she studied at the National School of Fine Arts, wrote texts for some periodicals and worked as an interviewer and presenter of television programs.

The author is a columnist, essayist, poet, short story writer, in addition to writing successful books for children and young people. Her works are characterized by the presence of female protagonists, fantastic realism, social criticism and elements referring to fairy tales. With a successful literary career, Colasanti has received several literary awards.

Read too: Milton Hatoum — one of the best known authors of contemporary literature

Summary about Marina Colasanti

  • Brazilian author Marina Colasanti was born in 1937.

  • In addition to being a writer, she was also a TV presenter and interviewer.

  • Your works are part of Brazilian literature contemporary.

  • Her texts feature female protagonism and fantastic elements.

  • She is the author of short stories, chronicles, essays, poetry and children's works.

Biography of Marina Colasanti

Marina Colasanti was born on September 26, 1937 in Asmara, Eritrea. Three years later, she and her family moved to Italy. There they witnessed the last years of World War II. But, in 1948, they decided to live in Brazil, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Thus, the writer has dual nationality: Brazilian and Italian.

From 1952 to 1956, she studied at the National School of Fine Arts. She started working at Jornal do Brasil, in 1962. There, she was a writer, columnist, illustrator, as well as editor of Caderno Infantil. In 1968, she published her first book, Me alone. In 1971, she married fellow writer Affonso Romano de Sant'Anna.

In the year 1974, she presented the news First hand, from TV Rio. Two years later, she hosted the show The Magicians, from Tevê Educativa, and also became editor of the magazine New. In 1986, she was a columnist for the magazine Headline. Between 1985 and 1988, she hosted the show Strong Saturday, from TVE.

In the early 1990s, she was an interviewer for the programs indiscreet sex, from TV Rio, Eye for an eye, from TV Tupi, and images from italy, from TVE. From there to here, published several works, received many awards and participated in several literary events in Brazil and abroad.

Marina Colasanti Awards

  • FNLIJ (1979)

  • APCA (1979)

  • FNLIJ (1982)

  • FNLIJ (1988)

  • FNLIJ (1989)

  • FNLIJ (1990)

  • FNLIJ (1991)

  • FNLIJ (1993)

  • Tortoise (1993)

  • Latin American Short Stories Contest for Children (1994) — Costa Rica

  • Tortoise (1994)

  • FNLIJ (1994)

  • Norm-Fundalecture (1996) — Colombia

  • Tortoise (1997)

  • FNLIJ (1998)

  • best of the year (1998) — Venezuela

  • Origins Lessa (2001)

  • Monteiro Lobato (2002)

  • Origins Lessa (2003)

  • IBBY Honor List (2004) — Switzerland

  • FNLIJ (2004)

  • Ordine della Stella della Solidarieta Italiana (2005) — Italy

  • Odylo Costa Filho (2008)

  • Alphonsus de Guimaraes (2009)

  • best of the year (2010) — Venezuela

  • Origins Lessa (2010)

  • Tortoise (2010)

  • Tortoise (2011)

  • FNLIJ (2013)

  • Ofélia Fontes (2014)

  • Tortoise (2014)

  • Origins Lessa (2015)

  • Monteiro Lobato (2015)

  • IBBY Honor List (2015) — Switzerland

  • Fundación Cuatrogatos (2016) — United States

  • SM Iberoamerican Award (2017)

  • Chair Seal (2017)

Features of Marina Colasanti's work

Marina Colasanti is a author of contemporary Brazilian literature. She wrote chronicles, short stories, poetry and children's literature. In general, her works have the following characteristics:

  • intertextuality;

  • mythological character;

  • female protagonism;

  • issues of the feminine universe;

  • everyday facts;

  • social and customs criticism;

  • lyricism;

  • fairy tale elements;

  • fantastic realism;

  • short sentences;

  • critique of individualism.

Works by Marina Colasanti

Cover of the book “Eu solo”, by Marina Colasanti, published by Grupo Global Editorial.
Book cover Me alone, by Marina Colasanti, published by Grupo Global Editorial. [1]
  • Me alone (1968) — chronicles

  • the abode of being (1978) — short stories

  • An all blue idea (1979) — short stories

  • Twelve Kings and the Girl in the Labyrinth of the Wind (1982) — short stories

  • And speaking of love (1985) — essays

  • Ophelia the sheep (1989) — children's

  • public intimacy (1990) — essays

  • Collision course (1993) — poetry

  • Ana Z, where are you going? (1994) — juvenile

  • The wolf and the sheep in the girl's dream (1994) — children's

  • I know, but I shouldn't (1995) — chronicles

  • Far as I want (1997) — short stories

  • The leopard is a delicate animal. (1998) — short stories

  • open throats (1998) — poetry

  • An Ivory Thorn and Other Stories (1999) — short stories

  • the house of words (2000) — chronicles

  • This love from us all (2000) — chronicles

  • Penelope sends her regards (2001) — short stories

  • A love without words (2001) — children's

  • friendship wags its tail (2002) — children's

  • the weaver girl (2004) — short stories

  • Frigates to distant lands (2004) — essays

  • 23 stories of a traveler (2005) — short stories

  • A road by the river (2005) — children's

  • thin blood (2005) — poetry

  • The last lilies in the silk case (2006) — chronicles

  • my wonder island (2007) — children's

  • my aunt told me (2007) — children's

  • Poetry in 4 times (2008) — juvenile

  • I sure have love (2009) — short stories

  • From your broken heart (2009) — short stories

  • Between the sword and the rose (2009) — short stories

  • Every animal its whim (2009) — children's

  • passenger in transit (2009) — poetry

  • my alien war (2010) — autobiography

  • torn love stories (2010) — short stories

  • before becoming a giant (2010) — children's

  • classifieds and not so much (2010) — children's

  • How to make a horse (2012) — essays

  • the name of the morning (2012) — children's

  • Short story of a little love (2013) — children's

  • Time to feed snakes (2013) — short stories

  • like a love letter (2014) — short stories

  • More than 100 wonderful stories (2015) — short stories

  • When spring arrives (2017) — short stories

  • a friend forever (2017) — kids

  • Top rated and not so much (2019) — kids

See too: Lygia Bojunga — one of the most important authors of children's and youth books

Poems by Marina Colasanti

At the poem “Out there, the night”, from the book Collision course |1|, the lyrical self (the voice that enunciates the poem) suggests that a woman can only be complete in the silence and solitude of the night. After all, it is when “the family sleeps” that she can surrender to silence, since “nobody demands her / nobody asks her / anything”:

It's when the family sleeps
— inert hands in the folds of the sheets
heavy the bodies under the living shroud —
that the woman exercises.
in the quiet house
where no one charges you
no one demands you
no one asks you
anything
walk at last queen
in the empty rooms
linger in the dark.
And bare feet
open the blouse
can surrender
placid
to silence.

no longer poem “Frutos e flores”, also from the book Collision course, the lyrical self is a woman, compared, by the beloved, to an apple. Thus, the characteristics of this apple are related to this woman. The final two lines suggest sexual penetration. However, the penis of the “beloved” is compared to a knife, which may suggest coldness and pain:

My beloved tells me
that I am like an apple
cut in half.
The seeds I have
it's really true.
And the symmetry of the curves.
I had a certain blush
on smooth skin
that I don't know
if i still have it.
But if in April it blooms
the apple tree
i made apple
and beyond mature
I still unfold
in white flowers
every time your knife
pierces me.

Quotes by Marina Colasanti

Next, we are going to read some phrases by Marina Colasanti, taken from her chronicles “Talking about love”, “There is no way to measure love”, “What a beautiful kiss!” and “The dark world”:

  • "Without love, you can't live either."

  • “There is no meter or measuring tape to measure happiness.”

  • “Love is seamless, it has no measure.”

  • “The diversity of desires cannot be ignored.”

  • "So life goes, between revolutionaries who like change, and conservatives who don't."

  • “We are getting too close to the edge of the cliff.”

Grades

|1| COLASANTI, Marina. Collision course. Rio de Janeiro: Rocco, 1993.

image credit

[1] Global Publishing Group (reproduction)

By Warley Souza
Literature Teacher

Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/literatura/marina-colasanti.htm

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