São Roque, SP, 1876 — Rio de Janeiro, 1954

 

Writer

 

Cláudio Justiniano de Sousa graduated in medicine but never practiced, preferring literature and the business world. He joined the Brazilian Academy of Letters in 1924 and was a leading light in the PEN Club of Brasil, where he received the title of perpetual president. He was close to Getúlio Vargas.

 

In 1936 he was an informal host to Zweig during his first visit to Brazil, en route to Buenos Aires to take part in the International Congress of the PEN Clubs. On the next visits, he tried remaining close to the author, taking him to PEN Club dinners in the town’s casinos. Together with the Romanian writer Leopold Stern, was the unsuccessful translator of Zweig’s farewell letter, the famous “Declaration”, and was responsible for the suppression of the final section. The author of a vast but insignificant bibliography in different genres, including the theatre.

 

Address listed: 172 Praia do Flamengo, Rio. Tel. 25-4832