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{{Short description|Mozambican author and statesman (born 1942)}}
'''Luís Bernardo Honwana''' (born 1942) is a [[Mozambique|Mozambican]] author and statesman. He published one book, ''[[We Killed Mangy Dog and Other Stories|Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso,]]'' a seminal work of Lusophone African literature, appearing on the [[Zimbabwe International Book Fair]] list "100 Best African Books of the Twentieth Century" of 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Africa's 100 Best Books of the 20th Century {{!}} Columbia University Libraries|url=https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/global/virtual-libraries/african_studies/books.html|access-date=2020-10-06|website=library.columbia.edu}}</ref>
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1942}}
| birth_place = [[Lourenço Marques]], Mozambique
| death_date =
| death_place =
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Author and statesman
| known_for =
| notable_works = ''[[We Killed Mangy Dog and Other Stories]]''
| parents =
| spouse =
| children =
| relatives =
| employer =
| website =
}}
'''Luís Bernardo Honwana''' (born 1942) is a [[Mozambique|Mozambican]] author and statesman.


==Biography==
==Biography==
Luís Bernardo Honwana was born Luís Augusto Bernardo Manuel in Lourenço Marques (present-day [[Maputo]]), Mozambique.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2012|title=Mozambique History Net: Luís Bernardo Honwana|url=http://www.mozambiquehistory.net/luis_bernardo.php|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-10-06|website=www.mozambiquehistory.net}}</ref>[http://www.mozambiquehistory.net/lang_lit/literature/luis_bernardo/19861100_date_uncertain_luis_bernardo_honwana.pdf] <ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=LUÍS BERNARDO HONWANA – Kapulana|url=http://www.kapulana.com.br/uis-bernardo-honwana/|access-date=2020-10-06|language=pt-BR}}</ref> His parents, Raúl Bernardo Manuel (Honwana) and Naly Jeremias Nhaca, belonged to the [[Ronga language|Ronga]] people from Moamba, a town about 55&nbsp;km northwest of Maputo.
Luís Bernardo Honwana was born Luís Augusto Bernardo Manuel in Lourenço Marques (present-day [[Maputo]]), Mozambique.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|date=2012|title=Mozambique History Net: Luís Bernardo Honwana|url=http://www.mozambiquehistory.net/luis_bernardo.php|access-date=2020-10-06|website=www.mozambiquehistory.net}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=LUÍS BERNARDO HONWANA – Kapulana|url=http://www.kapulana.com.br/uis-bernardo-honwana/|access-date=2020-10-06|language=pt-BR}}</ref> His parents, Raúl Bernardo Manuel (Honwana) and Naly Jeremias Nhaca, belonged to the [[Ronga language|Ronga]] people from Moamba, a town about 55&nbsp;km north-west of [[Maputo]].


In 1964 he became a militant with [[FRELIMO]], a front that had the objective to liberate Mozambique from Portuguese colonial rule. Due to his political activities he was arrested by the colonial authorities and was incarcerated for three years, from 1964-1967.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Currey|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8dpEAQAAIAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=mangy|title=Africa Writes Back: The African Writers Series & the Launch of African Literature|date=|publisher=James Currey|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84701-503-7|location=|pages=245-247|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> In 1970, he went to [[Portugal]] and did a law degree at the University of Lisbon.<ref name=":1" /> For some time, he worked as a journalist. In 1975, upon independence, he became Director of the Office of President [[Samora Machel]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1982, he became the Secretary of State for Culture of Mozambique.<ref name=":1" /> In 1986, he was appointed Minister of Culture of Mozambique.<ref name=":1" /> In 1987, he was elected a member of the Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).<ref name=":1" />
In 1964, he became a militant with [[FRELIMO]], a front that had the objective to liberate Mozambique from Portuguese colonial rule. Due to his political activities he was arrested by the colonial authorities and was incarcerated for three years, from 1964 to 1967.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Currey|first=James|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8dpEAQAAIAAJ&q=mangy|title=Africa Writes Back: The African Writers Series & the Launch of African Literature|publisher=James Currey|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84701-503-7|pages=245–247|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> In 1970, he went to [[Portugal]] and did a law degree at the University of Lisbon.<ref name=":1" /> For some time, he worked as a journalist. In 1975, upon independence, he became Director of the Office of President [[Samora Machel]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1982, he became the Secretary of State for Culture of Mozambique.<ref name=":1" /> In 1986, he was appointed Minister of Culture of Mozambique.<ref name=":1" /> In 1987, he was elected a member of the Executive Council of the [[United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization]] (UNESCO).<ref name=":1" />


He served on the Executive Board of [[UNESCO]] from 1987 to 1991 and was chairman of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the World Decade for Culture and Development. In 1995, he was appointed director of the newly opened UNESCO office in South Africa. Since he retired from the organization in 2002, he has been active in research in the arts, history, and ethno-linguistics. <ref>[http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=20292&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Luís Bernardo Honwana] at Unesco.</ref>
He served on the Executive Board of [[UNESCO]] from 1987 to 1991 and was chairman of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the World Decade for Culture and Development. In 1995, he was appointed director of the newly opened UNESCO office in South Africa. Since he retired from the organization in 2002, he has been active in research in the arts, history, and ethno-linguistics.<ref>[http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=20292&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Luís Bernardo Honwana] at UNESCO.</ref>


In 1991, he founded [[Fundo Bibliográfico de Língua Portuguesa]] and later founded [[Organização Nacional dos Jornalistas de Moçambique]] (National Organization of Journalists of Mozambique), Associação Moçambicana de Fotografia (Mozambican Photography Association), and Associação dos Escritores Moçambicanos (Mozambican Writers Association).<ref>{{Cite web|title=LUÍS BERNARDO HONWANA – Kapulana|url=http://www.kapulana.com.br/uis-bernardo-honwana/|access-date=2020-10-06|language=pt-BR}}</ref> He was also the executive director of Fundação para a Conservação da Biodiversidade (BIOFUND, Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity).
In 1991, he founded [[Fundo Bibliográfico de Língua Portuguesa]] and later founded [[Organização Nacional dos Jornalistas de Moçambique]] (National Organization of Journalists of Mozambique), [[Associação Moçambicana de Fotografia]] (Mozambican Photography Association), and [[Associação dos Escritores Moçambicanos]] (Mozambican Writers Association).<ref>{{Cite web|title=LUÍS BERNARDO HONWANA – Kapulana|url=http://www.kapulana.com.br/uis-bernardo-honwana/|access-date=2020-10-06|language=pt-BR}}</ref> He was also the executive director of [[Fundação para a Conservação da Biodiversidade]] (BIOFUND, Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity).


==Works==
==Works==
Honwana is the author of a single book, ''Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso'' (1964), translated into English by [[Dorothy Guedes]] as ''[[We Killed Mangy Dog and Other Stories]]'' (1969) and the tale "Hands of the Blacks". He self-published ''Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso'' when he was 22.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=lopez – Kapulana|url=http://www.kapulana.com.br/author/lopez/|access-date=2020-10-06|language=pt-BR}}</ref>
For decades, Honwana was the author of a single book, ''Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso'' (1964), a classic of African literature and the most widely read and influential Lusophone African fiction ever published.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Honwana|first=Luís Bernardo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xieBs608W3QC&q=Ginho+Quim+Faruk+Gulamo|title=Nous avons tué le chien teigneux|date=2006|publisher=Editions Chandeigne|isbn=978-2-915540-24-6|language=fr}}</ref> It was translated into English by [[Dorothy Guedes]] as ''[[We Killed Mangy Dog and Other Stories]]'' (1969). He self-published ''Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso'' when he was 22 years old, while a political prisoner of [[PIDE]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=lopez – Kapulana|url=http://www.kapulana.com.br/author/lopez/|access-date=2020-10-06|language=pt-BR}}</ref> He also published the tale "Hands of the Blacks".


''We Killed Mangy Dog'' is a collection of short stories set in the (Portuguese) colonial era at the turn of the sixties and is reflective of the harsh life black Mozambicans lived under the [[António de Oliveira Salazar|Salazar regime]]. Several of the stories are told from the point of view of children or alienated adolescents and most feature the rich mix of races, religions and ethnicities that would later preoccupy Mozambique's most internationally celebrated writer, [[Mia Couto]]. It "denuncia e contesta a realidade brutal de Moçambique na época do colonialismo" (denounces and challenges the brutal reality of Mozambique in the era of colonialism).<ref>{{Cite web|title=lopez – Kapulana|url=http://www.kapulana.com.br/author/lopez/|access-date=2020-10-06|language=pt-BR}}</ref>
''We Killed Mangy Dog'' is a collection of short stories set in the (Portuguese) colonial era at the turn of the 1960s and is reflective of the harsh life black Mozambicans lived under the [[António de Oliveira Salazar|Salazar regime]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=cultural|first=Pesquisa|date=2017-10-23|title=Resistência e Afirmação Identitária em Nós Matamos o Cão Tinhoso, de Luís Bernardo Honwana|url=https://arteculturaeciencia.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/resistencia-e-afirmacao-identitaria-em-nos-matamos-o-cao-tinhoso-de-luis-bernardo-honwana/|access-date=2020-10-06|website=Arte, cultura e ciência|language=pt-BR}}</ref> It "denuncia e contesta a realidade brutal de Moçambique na época do colonialismo" (denounces and challenges the brutal reality of Mozambique in the era of colonialism).<ref name=":2" /> Honwana's stories were written for a greater purpose than entertainment and amusement. They "raise questions about social exploration, [[racial segregation]], and class and education distinctions."<ref name="Laranjeira">Laranjeira, Pires. ''Literaturas Africanas de Expressão Portuguesa''. Lisbon: Universidade Aberta, 1995.</ref> Several of the stories are told from the point of view of children or alienated adolescents and most feature the rich mix of races, religions and ethnicities that would later preoccupy Mozambique's most internationally celebrated writer, [[Mia Couto]].


In 2017, more than fifty years after he published his first book, Honwana published a second book, nonfiction, titled ''A Veha Casa de Madeira e Zinco'' (The Old House of Wood and Zinc), a collection of previously published essays and other commentary.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Honwana|first=Luís Bernardo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PMXLuQEACAAJ|title=A velha casa de madeira e zinco|date=2017|publisher=Alcance Editores|isbn=9789928792877|language=pt}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Luís Bernardo Honwana regressa com "A velha casa de madeira e Zinco"|url=https://www.voaportugues.com/a/luis-bernardo-honwana-regressa-com--velha-casa-madeira-zinco/3909957.html|access-date=2020-10-06|website=VOA|language=pt}}</ref>
It was illustrated first by Mozambiquan artist [[Bertina Lopes]] and then by [[Pedro Guedes]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ulli Beier, Frank McEwen, Pancho Guedes and Julian Beinart|url=https://alexandrepomar.typepad.com/alexandre_pomar/2011/03/ulli-1.html|access-date=2020-10-06|website=Alexandre Pomar}}</ref>


== Reputation ==
It was first published in Africa and it was a long time before the book was published in Portugal:
According to [[Patrick Chabal]], "Honwana greatly influenced the post-colonial generation of younger prose writers and has rightly been regarded as stylistically accomplished."<ref>Chabal, Patrick, et al. ''The Post-Colonial Literature of Lusophone Africa''. London: Hurst & Company, 1996.</ref> Honwana is considered "an iconic ''figura'' in the development of Mozambican literary prose style."<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|date=2012|title=Mozambique History Net: Luís Bernardo Honwana|url=http://www.mozambiquehistory.net/luis_bernardo.php|access-date=2020-10-06|website=www.mozambiquehistory.net}}</ref>

◊ Original edition: ''Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso'' (Lourenço Marques: Publicações Sociedade de Imprensa de Moçambique, 1964), 135p. Illustrations by Bertina Lopes (1926-2012).<ref name=":0" />

◊ Portuguese edition, with revisions. ''Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso: contos moçambicanos'' (Porto: Afrontamento, 1972), 147p.<ref name=":0" />

◊ 2nd Mozambican edition: ''Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso'' (Lourenço Marques: Académica, 1975), 124p. (Colecção «Som e Sentido»; no.7)<ref name=":0" />

◊ New edition, labelled 2nd ed., revised by the author: ''Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso'' (Maputo: INLD, 1978), 109p.<ref name=":0" />

◊ Brazilian edition: ''Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso'' (São Paulo: Ática, 1980), 96p. (Coleção «Autores Africanos»; no.4)<ref name=":0" />

◊ New edition, labelled 3rd ed.: ''Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso'' (Maputo: INLD, 1984), 109p.<ref name=":0" />

◊ Another Portuguese edition: ''Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso'' (Porto: Afrontamento, 1988), 144 p.<ref name=":0" />

== Reception ==
His book has been called "é um marco da literatura moçambicana" (a landmark of Mozambican literature).<ref>{{Cite web|title=lopez – Kapulana|url=http://www.kapulana.com.br/author/lopez/|access-date=2020-10-06|language=pt-BR}}</ref> The book "exercised a massive influence on the subsequent generation of Mozambican prose writers" and Honwana is considered "an iconic ''figura'' in the development of Mozambican literary prose style."<ref name=":0" />

When it was published, "a obra foi alvo de polêmica, sendo criticada por parte daqueles que defendiam o colonialismo e simpatizavam com o regime do ditador português António de Oliveira Salazar, e aclamada por aqueles que, portadores de ideias nacionalistas, defendiam a liberdade e a autonomia do país" (the work was the subject of controversy, being criticized by those who defended colonialism and sympathized with the regime of Portuguese dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, and acclaimed by those who, with nationalist ideas, defended the country's freedom and autonomy).<ref name=":2" /> Indeed, it it "provoked a storm of outrage among right-wing Portuguese settlers."<ref name=":0" /> He was arrested not long after its publication by the colonial authorities. But others "praised him for having captured demotic Mozambican patterns of speech."<ref name=":0" />[http://www.mozambiquehistory.net/lang_lit/literature/luis_bernardo/19840513_polemica.pdf] The original texts of this early debate about the book are available.[http://www.mozambiquehistory.net/lang_lit/literature/luis_bernardo/19840513_polemica.pdf] Abudo Machude published a book in Portuguese about the critical reception of Honwana's book.<ref>MACHUDE, Abudo. A recepção crítica de Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso. Maputo, Moçambique: Alcance Editores, 2014.</ref>

''Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso'' has been translated into English, French, German and Russian, and has been produced in the theatre.<ref name=":0" />

''Nós Matámos o Cão Tinhoso'' won first place in the international literary contest of ''The Classic'' magazine in South Africa in 1965.<ref name=":1" />


== References==
== References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
<references/>


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[[Category:Portuguese-language writers]]
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[[Category:1942 births]]
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Latest revision as of 14:37, 8 August 2024

Luis Bernardo Honwana
Born1942 (age 82–83)
Lourenço Marques, Mozambique
Occupation(s)Author and statesman
Notable workWe Killed Mangy Dog and Other Stories

Luís Bernardo Honwana (born 1942) is a Mozambican author and statesman.

Biography

[edit]

Luís Bernardo Honwana was born Luís Augusto Bernardo Manuel in Lourenço Marques (present-day Maputo), Mozambique.[1][2] His parents, Raúl Bernardo Manuel (Honwana) and Naly Jeremias Nhaca, belonged to the Ronga people from Moamba, a town about 55 km north-west of Maputo.

In 1964, he became a militant with FRELIMO, a front that had the objective to liberate Mozambique from Portuguese colonial rule. Due to his political activities he was arrested by the colonial authorities and was incarcerated for three years, from 1964 to 1967.[3][4] In 1970, he went to Portugal and did a law degree at the University of Lisbon.[2] For some time, he worked as a journalist. In 1975, upon independence, he became Director of the Office of President Samora Machel.[2] In 1982, he became the Secretary of State for Culture of Mozambique.[2] In 1986, he was appointed Minister of Culture of Mozambique.[2] In 1987, he was elected a member of the Executive Council of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).[2]

He served on the Executive Board of UNESCO from 1987 to 1991 and was chairman of UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the World Decade for Culture and Development. In 1995, he was appointed director of the newly opened UNESCO office in South Africa. Since he retired from the organization in 2002, he has been active in research in the arts, history, and ethno-linguistics.[5]

In 1991, he founded Fundo Bibliográfico de Língua Portuguesa and later founded Organização Nacional dos Jornalistas de Moçambique (National Organization of Journalists of Mozambique), Associação Moçambicana de Fotografia (Mozambican Photography Association), and Associação dos Escritores Moçambicanos (Mozambican Writers Association).[6] He was also the executive director of Fundação para a Conservação da Biodiversidade (BIOFUND, Foundation for the Conservation of Biodiversity).

Works

[edit]

For decades, Honwana was the author of a single book, Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso (1964), a classic of African literature and the most widely read and influential Lusophone African fiction ever published.[7] It was translated into English by Dorothy Guedes as We Killed Mangy Dog and Other Stories (1969). He self-published Nós Matámos o Cão-Tinhoso when he was 22 years old, while a political prisoner of PIDE.[4] He also published the tale "Hands of the Blacks".

We Killed Mangy Dog is a collection of short stories set in the (Portuguese) colonial era at the turn of the 1960s and is reflective of the harsh life black Mozambicans lived under the Salazar regime.[8] It "denuncia e contesta a realidade brutal de Moçambique na época do colonialismo" (denounces and challenges the brutal reality of Mozambique in the era of colonialism).[4] Honwana's stories were written for a greater purpose than entertainment and amusement. They "raise questions about social exploration, racial segregation, and class and education distinctions."[9] Several of the stories are told from the point of view of children or alienated adolescents and most feature the rich mix of races, religions and ethnicities that would later preoccupy Mozambique's most internationally celebrated writer, Mia Couto.

In 2017, more than fifty years after he published his first book, Honwana published a second book, nonfiction, titled A Veha Casa de Madeira e Zinco (The Old House of Wood and Zinc), a collection of previously published essays and other commentary.[10][11]

Reputation

[edit]

According to Patrick Chabal, "Honwana greatly influenced the post-colonial generation of younger prose writers and has rightly been regarded as stylistically accomplished."[12] Honwana is considered "an iconic figura in the development of Mozambican literary prose style."[13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Mozambique History Net: Luís Bernardo Honwana". www.mozambiquehistory.net. 2012. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "LUÍS BERNARDO HONWANA – Kapulana" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  3. ^ Currey, James (2008). Africa Writes Back: The African Writers Series & the Launch of African Literature. James Currey. pp. 245–247. ISBN 978-1-84701-503-7.
  4. ^ a b c "lopez – Kapulana" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  5. ^ Luís Bernardo Honwana at UNESCO.
  6. ^ "LUÍS BERNARDO HONWANA – Kapulana" (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  7. ^ Honwana, Luís Bernardo (2006). Nous avons tué le chien teigneux (in French). Editions Chandeigne. ISBN 978-2-915540-24-6.
  8. ^ cultural, Pesquisa (2017-10-23). "Resistência e Afirmação Identitária em Nós Matamos o Cão Tinhoso, de Luís Bernardo Honwana". Arte, cultura e ciência (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  9. ^ Laranjeira, Pires. Literaturas Africanas de Expressão Portuguesa. Lisbon: Universidade Aberta, 1995.
  10. ^ Honwana, Luís Bernardo (2017). A velha casa de madeira e zinco (in Portuguese). Alcance Editores. ISBN 9789928792877.
  11. ^ "Luís Bernardo Honwana regressa com "A velha casa de madeira e Zinco"". VOA (in Portuguese). Retrieved 2020-10-06.
  12. ^ Chabal, Patrick, et al. The Post-Colonial Literature of Lusophone Africa. London: Hurst & Company, 1996.
  13. ^ "Mozambique History Net: Luís Bernardo Honwana". www.mozambiquehistory.net. 2012. Retrieved 2020-10-06.
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