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Causo, Roberto de Sousa

Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.

(1965-    ) Brazilian editor, critic and science fiction author, Roberto de Sousa Causo is a long-time correspondent for the American sf magazine Locus. In 2005, he also began publishing an initially weekly column about sf for Terra Magazine, an electronic platform of the Brazilian media giant Portal Terra. In addition to being a prolific sf writer in his own right, Causo currently works as a freelance editor for the Devir publishing house, where he is jointly responsible (with publisher Douglas Quinta Reis) for selecting authors for translation and publication in the fields of science fiction and fantasy. To date he has edited three Anthologies that offer a selection of the best early and contemporary works of Brazilian sf stories, establishing a panorama of the genre in Brazil. This is also the subject of his pioneering 2003 study, Ficção científica, fantasia e horror no Brasil: 1875 a 1950 ["SF, Fantasy and Horror in Brazil, 1875-1950"]. Although his own works are mainly focused on Brazilian topics, and often deal with issues of race (see Race in SF), Gender, Ecology, corruption and social injustice, he cites Perry Rhodan, Stephen King and Orson Scott Card among his main influences, in addition to fellow Brazilian sf writer Ivan Carlos Regina.

As he writes in all subgenres of science fiction as well as Fantasy and Horror, Causo is prolific and his work varied. For example, the story "A vitória dos minúsculos" ["The Victory of the Small Ones"] (July 1997 Nossas Edições) pays homage to both Machado de Assis (Brazil's best known nineteenth-century author) and H G Wells, while "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World" (December 1997 Science Fiction World; in Portuguese as "A mulher mais bela do mundo" 1998) pairs the theme of First Contact with that of Third World realities. The story "A mulher" ["The Woman"] (December 1995 Neo-Interativa), involves the themes of race and transgendering, as does O par ["The Pair"] (2001), in which Aliens have begun cloning experiments with humans (see Clones). Like O Par and Terra Verde ["Verdant Land"] (2000), Causo's Selva Brasil ["Jungle Brazil"] (2010) involves the Brazilian military and is set in the Amazon, yet instead of portraying an alien encounter, it is an Alternate History. The motifs of history, the Amazon and intertextuality play a role in "O plano de Robida: un voyage extraordinaire" ["Robida's Plan: un voyage extraordinaire"] (in Steampunk: histórias de um passado extraordinário, anth 2009), a Steampunk tale that pays homage to two pioneers in the sf genre: the Frenchman Albert Robida and the Brazilian Jerônymo Monteiro. More recent stories such as "O novo protótipo" ["The New Prototype"] (July 2009 Portal Stalker) are set in Liberdade, the Japanese neighbourhood of a futuristic São Paulo, where female protagonists, struggling with their loss of innocence, search for peace after suffering the consequences of crime. "Harmonia" ["Harmony"] (in As cidades indizíveis, anth 2011) is a contemporary fantasy that may be read as sf owing to its discussion of Utopia. Causo's longer works include A Corrida de Rinoceronte ["The Race of the Rhinoceros"] (2006), a fantasy work with sf elements (Computer-generated images used to trick surveillance satellites) set in the USA, and Anjo de Dor ["Angel of Pain"] (2009), a compelling horror story of a man haunted by the spectre of a female murderer.

In 2004, Causo was named Personality of the Year by the editors of the Anuário Brasileiro de Literatura Fantástica ["Brazil's Annual Review of Fantastic Literature"], the same year he received a prize for his academic study Ficção científica, fantasia e horror no Brasil: 1875 a 1950 from the SBAF (Sociedade Brasileira de Arte Fantástica) [Brazilian Society for the Fantastic in the Arts]. A tireless promoter of science fiction and genre literature in Brazil, Causo's work exemplifies the national focus of Brazil's Second Wave. He is a contributor to this encyclopedia. [MEG]

Roberto de Sousa Causo

born São Bernardo do Campo, State of São Paulo, Brazil: 1965

works (selected)

  • A Dança das Sombras ["The Dance of Shadows"] (Lisboa: Caminho, 1999) [coll: pb/]
  • Terra Verde ["Verdant Land"] (São Paulo, Brazil: Grupo Editorial Cone-Sul, 2000) [pb/]
  • A Sombra dos Homens ["The Shadow of Men"] (São Paulo, Brazil: Devir Livraria, 2004) [pb/]
  • A Corrida do Rinoceronte ["The Race of the Rhinoceros"] (São Paulo, Brazil: Devir Livraria, 2006) [pb/]
  • O Par: Uma Novela Amazônica ["The Pair: An Amazonian Novella"] (São Paulo, Brazil: Humanitas, 2008) [pb/]
  • Anjo de Dor ["Angel of Pain"] (São Paulo, Brazil: Devir Livraria, 2009) [pb/]
  • Selva Brasil ["Jungle Brazil"] (São Paulo, Brazil: Draco, 2010) [pb/]

works as editor

nonfiction

  • "Science Fiction during the Brazilian Dictatorship" (1998 Extrapolation 39.4) [pp314-323: mag/]
  • Ficção Científica, Fantasia e Horror no Brasil: 1875 a 1950 ["SF, Fantasy and Horror in Brazil, 1875-1950"] (Belo Horizonte, Brazil: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, 2003) [nonfiction: pb/]
  • "A Brazilian Metafiction: Paulo de Sousa Ramos's Dystopian Novella" in New Boundaries in Political Science Fiction (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 2008) edited by Donald M Hassler and Clyde Wilcox [nonfiction: anth: pp212-222: hb/]
  • "Encountering International Science Fiction Through a Latin American Lens" in Reading Science Fiction (New York: Palgrave, 2009) edited by James Gunn, Marleen S Barr and Matthew Candelaria [nonfiction: anth: pp142-154: pb/]
  • "Discovering and Re-discovering Brazilian Science Fiction: An Overview" (2010 Extrapolation 51.1) with M Elizabeth Ginway [pp13-3: mag/]

about the author

  • M Elizabeth Ginway. Brazilian Science Fiction: Cultural Myths and Nationhood in the Land of the Future (Lewisberg, Pennsylvania: Bucknell University Press, 2004) [nonfiction: pp34, 136, 138, 151, 177, 185: hb/]
  • M Elizabeth Ginway. "A Working Model for Analyzing Third World Science Fiction: The Case of Brazil" (2005 Science Fiction Studies 32.3) [pp467-494: mag/]
  • "Transgendering in Brazilian Speculative Fiction from Machado de Assis to the Present." (2010 Luso-Brazilian Review 47.1) [pp40-60: mag/].
  • Ramiro Giroldo. "Utopia em Movimento: Harmonia de Roberto de Sousa Causo" (2012 Revista Nau Literária Vol 8.1) [mag/]

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