“In the texts now compiled in this volume, Helder Macedo seems to want to play with the genre and with his reader. The ‘khronos’ here is different, not of the instant, but of the duration, because ‘Pretextos’ are nothing but pretexts to go beyond what is said, in the volatile moment of writing, in a web of relationships and meanings. There is an echo that what is read disseminates, remaining within us, because the originality and sharpness of the viewpoints are coupled with a veiled appeal to reflection, to the pause of those who pay attention and think,” the jury reasoned in a statement released.
The jury, consisting of Carlos Albino Guerreiro, Cristina Robalo Cordeiro, and Francisco Duarte Mangas, further noted that ‘Pretextos’ “is an excellent example of how the spectacle of the world, above all, needs an exemplary chronicler to reach us and touch us.”
The Grand Prize for Chronicles and Literary Dispersals carries a value of 15,000 euros and will be awarded on May 29.
‘Pretextos’ was published by Caminho in February of last year and is described by the author as being composed mostly of “pretexts to talk about writers and painters, to celebrate friends, both living and deceased (lately, we’ve been dying a lot), and to share interests: literature, theater, opera, politics, football, and, as was once advertised in circus announcements at the Coliseu dos Recreios, whatever comes next.”
University professor and writer Helder Macedo was born in 1935 in South Africa and grew up in Mozambique before moving to Lisbon.
Pursued by the PIDE political police during the Estado Novo regime, he went into exile in London, where he earned his doctorate at King’s College, an institution that welcomed him as a professor for decades.
He also served as Director-General of the Arts of the Show and Secretary of State for Culture.
