Carlos Heitor Cony and Paulo Simões: the aesthetic change of author and character in Pessach: the crossing

Abstract

Several Brazilian literature scholars consider Carlos Heitor Cony one of the precursors of the resistance literature against dictatorship in Brazil. On April 1st, 1964, his chronicles already questioned the coup and the military and denounced the first abuses of the revolution of March 31st, 1964. In 1966, Cony and 7 other Brazilian intellectuals were arrested by the military after having booed and protested against President Castelo Branco in an OAS conference at the Hotel Gloria. This episode was later known as “The eight of the Gloria”. While in prison, Cony began writing the Pessach:  the crossing, and Antonio Callado, the Quarup, both now considered seminal works to the resistance literature of the 1960s. These events have helped us to develop one of the objectives of our dissertation: the romance of Cony. To gather further information, we met Carlos Heitor Cony at his apartment in Rio de Janeiro on August 16th, 2016, and talked the whole afternoon about literature, history, politics, and the Pessach: the crossing, which would celebrate its 50th anniversary edition the following year. This ended up being his last interview to an academic and the penultimate of his lifetime. The author died on January 5th, 2018, at the age of 91. In the present article, we present some excerpts from the intense moments of apprenticeship and reflection left by Cony.