Dalton Trevisan’s personal anthology – 04/10/2023 – Alvaro Costa e Silva

In the 1950s, some privileged people received by mail an artifact with the best literature made in Brazil. In it, news from the newspaper, a sentence on the air, a medicine leaflet, a small advertisement, classics of the language, a suicide note, a friend’s confidence, ghost in the attic, sour candy, corruíra and the worst of curses: “leprous stove cockroach with dandruff on the eyebrow”. Spy, the writer seemed to live with his ear glued behind the neighbors’ door to reproduce the disasters of love in dialogues.

There were string leaflets, in a small print run and on cheap paper, and yet there was a treasure: mastery of the technique of the short story, mastery in handling the phrase, balance between the tragic, the lyrical and the grotesque. As noted by Antonio Callado, narratives that bite the reader. Stories with the power and thirst of a vampire in search of Polaquinhas in the icy streets of Curitiba.

With each new delivery, the lucky ones went to a hidden corner to enjoy the literary wave. Sated, they were proud to belong to Dalton Trevisan’s first readers’ club. With even more privileged elected officials, there was an exchange of letters and impressions. The author demanded of Otto Lara Resende: “Be cruel, Otto, be cruel.”

“Personal Anthology” arrives this week at bookstores, a hardcover edition with 448 pages. The impact is the same as the strings sent to friends of the past. It brings together 94 selected and reworked stories. From “Novelas Nada Exemplares” (1959) to “Beijo na Nuca (2014), Dalton has published more than 50 books.

In the presentation, Augusto Massi makes reference to the elusive behavior of the writer (who does not like to be photographed or give an interview). But he asks: “Wouldn’t it be time to underline your full dedication to literature?”. At 97 years old and with around 700 stories in his luggage, he remains faithful to the idea of ​​never putting an end to a short story. Just reread to write again.

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