António Lobo Antunes was born in Lisbon as the eldest of six sons of João Alfredo de Figueiredo Lobo Antunes (born 1915), prominent Neurologist and professor, close collaborator of Egas Moniz, Nobel Prize of physiology, and wife Maria Margarida Machado de Almeida Lima (born 1917). He is the brother of João Lobo Antunes and Manuel Lobo Antunes. [2]
At the age of seven, he decided to be a writer, but when he was 16, his father sent him to the medical school of the University of Lisbon. He graduated as a medical doctor, later specializing in psychiatry. During this time he never stopped writing.
By the end of his education, Lobo Antunes had to serve with the Portuguese Army to take part in the Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974). In a military hospital in Angola, he became interested in the subjects of death and "the other."[3]
Lobo Antunes came back from Africa in 1973. The Angolan War of Independence was the subject of many of his novels. He worked for many months in Germany and Belgium.
In 1979, Lobo Antunes published his first novel, Memória de Elefante (Elephant's Memory), in which he told the story of his separation. Due to the success of his first novel, Lobo Antunes decided to devote his evenings to writing. He has been practising psychiatry as well, mainly at the outpatients' unit at the Hospital Miguel Bombarda of Lisbon.
His style is considered to be very dense, heavily influenced by William Faulkner and Louis-Ferdinand Céline, and his books also tend to be on the long side.
He has published more than twenty novels, among the most important are Fado Alexandrino (1983), As Naus (1988) and O Manual dos Inquisidores (1996). His works have been translated into more than thirty languages.[4]
He writes a biweekly newspaper column for Visão, a Portuguese magazine.
He married his first wife Maria José Xavier da Fonseca e Costa (1946–1999), the second of three daughters of José Hermano da Costa and his wife Clara da Conceição de Barros Xavier da Fonseca e Costa, by whom he has two daughters: Maria José Lobo Antunes in 1971 and Joana Lobo Antunes in 1973. They were divorced.
His second wife (whom he also divorced) was Maria João Espírito Santo Bustorff Silva (born Lisbon, 13 August 1950), daughter of António Sérgio Carneiro Bustorff Silva and wife Ana Maria da Anunciação de Fátima de Morais Sarmento Cohen do Espírito Santo Silva, by whom she has one daughter: Maria Isabel Bustorff Lobo Antunes (born 1983).
He was married for the third time in 2010 to Cristina Ferreira de Almeida, daughter of João Carlos Ferreira de Almeida (Lisbon, 1941 – 2008) and wife Natércia Ribeiro da Silva.
The following published works (the novels and the books of chronicles) are considered canonical by the author himself.[citation needed]
Novels
Memória de Elefante (1979). Elephant's Memory
Os Cus de Judas (1979). Translated by Elizabeth Lowe as South of Nowhere (1983); and later by Margaret Jull Costa as The Land at the End of the World (2011).
Conhecimento do Inferno (1980). Knowledge of Hell, trans. Clifford E. Landers (2008).
Explicação dos Pássaros (1981). An Explanation of the Birds, trans. Richard Zenith (1991).
Published works considered non-canonical by the author himself.[citation needed]
A História do hidroavião (1994) illustrated by Vitorino
Letrinhas das Cantigas (Limited Edition 2002)
D'este viver aqui neste papel descripto: cartas da guerra ("Cartas da Guerra") (2005) - This book is the collection of war letters written by Lobo Antunes, while on military duties in Angola, to his then-wife. They were reorganized by their daughters, with no intervention whatsoever from the author for this publication. The 2016 film Letters from War directed by Ivo M. Ferreira is based on the letter collection.
Portugal
Portuguese Army
