Writer recalled predecessors and work as a journalist at an event that brought together celebrities and academics in Rio de Janeiro
LEONARDO FLATTERED
With a speech that began by equating the word with fire and the wheel as the greatest discoveries of humanity —”with the difference that the word continues to be permanently discovered”—, the writer and journalist Ruy Castro, 75, took office as the newest member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters.
The ceremony was held this Friday night, at the ABL headquarters, in the center of Rio de Janeiro, with the presence of Fernanda Montenegro, Antonio Cicero, Zuenir Ventura, the Municipal Secretary of Culture of Rio de Janeiro Marcelo Calero, the director editorial staff at Folha Sérgio Dávila, and editor Luiz Schwarcz, from Companhia das Letras, among academics and guests. The event was broadcast on the institution’s website and YouTube.
Ruy occupies chair 13, which belonged to the diplomat, philosopher, anthropologist, translator and essayist Sérgio Paulo Rouanet, former Minister of Culture, who died on July 3, 2022, aged 88.
Before him, the chair was occupied by Francisco de Assis Barbosa, Augusto Meyer, Hélio Lobo, Sousa Bandeira, Martins Júnior, Francisco de Castro and the founder Visconde de Taunay. The patron of the chair is the lawyer and journalist Francisco Otaviano (1825-1889).
In his speech, Ruy recalled his predecessors —and an alleged curse of chair 13, following a number of academics had either occupied the post for a short time or had not even managed to take office.
He told the impact of having entered a newsroom for the first time and highlighted three newspapers in which he worked, in specific periods: Correio da Manĥã, Jornal do Brasil, and Folha —the vehicle that, according to the journalist, practically single-handedly made Brazil take to the streets through Diretas Já.
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