Diogo Mainardi
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Diogo Mainardi (born September 22, 1962) is a Brazilian writer and articulist, mainly known for his short, impactful, ironic articles in Brazil´s best-selling, weekly newsmagazine, Veja. Undoubtedly an iconoclast, he is one of the most controversial writers in his country, having published texts that go from the comic to the aggressive, from melancholic to pure sarcasm.
He was born in São Paulo, where he finished high school. He went to London to study economics at the London School fo Economics, but did not manage to maintain a passing average, which he blames on too much time spent reading at the library. He quit, and never graduated.
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Diogo Mainardi
Mainardi has published five books: Malthus (1989), Arquipélago (1992), Polígono das Secas (1995), Contra o Brasil (1998), and A Tapas e Pontapés (2004). None of the first four - all romances - were commercial (or critical) successes, but his latest book, featuring excerpts of his popular articles in Veja, has been. He has also written two screenplays: 16060 (1995) and Mater Dei (2001). Both films were major box-office flops, something Mainardi regularly makes fun of in a self-deprecating manner.
Despite all this, Mainardi is an influential articulist in the weekly magazine Veja. He has also joined a Sunday night cable TV show called Manhattan Connection, in which Brazilian thinkers and invited guests discuss the week's news.
In a recent article, Mainardi compared himself to Super Mario, in that he plays a game in which the objective is to find the hand of Brazil's labor party (PT) behind any disaster, scandal, etc. that occurs in Brazil.
Mainardi is married and has a young son, Tito, who suffers from cerebral paralysis, something Mainardi has written a few articles about.
He regularly cites noted Brazilian intellectuals Paulo Francis and Ivan Lessa as mentors.
Quotes
"I don't feel the responsibility of constructing, only destroying".
"The role of the press is to chase, hunt and knock down the politicians in power- someone´s gotta control those people".
"Lula is my XBox. He´s my Nintendo".
External links
- Official Veja Website (http://www.veja.com.br)
- Official Manhattan Connection Website (http://globosat.globo.com/gnt/programas/programa.asp?gid=19)