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Graduated in Law, the writer briefly worked as a public prosecutor and as a lawyer.

 

This Thursday, the 18th, National Children's Book Day is celebrated, a date that honors the birth of Monteiro Lobato , a pioneer in Brazilian children's literature. In addition to his famous contribution to literature, Lobato had a less well-known stint in law, briefly serving as a public prosecutor.

 

After the death of his grandfather, in early 1911, Lobato abandoned his legal career to dedicate himself to the life of a farmer and writer. It was during this period that he began publishing short stories, chronicles and criticisms, consolidating himself as a renowned writer.

 

Although his career in Law was short, from 1907 to 1911, Monteiro Lobato also left his mark in legal annals.

 

Monteiro Lobato served for a short period as a prosecutor. (Image: Reproduction)

A little bone

 

In an article , historian João Gabriel Rosa de Almeida states that, at the beginning of 1930, journalist Pereira Penna wrote, in the regional newspaper , criticism of the former prosecutor Lobato, for attitudes considered " unfair to the welcoming people of  ".

 

Lobato wanted to be appointed to a prosperous district, counting on the political influence of his grandfather, the Viscount of as the author revealed to his college friend  Rangel in a letter.

 

" I am appointed public prosecutor of the district of  which must be  somewhere. But be respectful, therefore, friend, when you write to  Lobato. I demand DD. on the envelope. I am the DD. Public Prosecutor of , a  city that will definitely exist. A hundred or so candidates for this  little bone [...] A letter from my grandfather to General  was a decisive asset.  From there - from- I will move to a region in Terra the  blessed land where money is made... "

 

 

 

(Image: Reproduction)

It is known that the book "Dead Cities" was inspired by the municipality of  from which the author created the fantasy cities of  and Oblivion. In the work, Lobato portrays the socio-economic stagnation of the Vale

 

 

The greatest record of the figure of Lobato prosecutor was a letter, from June 1907, in which he explained why the minor João Baptista de Oliveira should be condemned.

 

In it, Monteiro Lobato records that the evidence contained in the case confirms the guilt of the minor and excludes that of another minor,  José da Silva.

 

" João, son of a self-confessed alcoholic and a woman notoriously recognized as such, atones for the disastrous inheritance of his ancestors, revealing the facies of the degenerate in the 2nd degree, revealing a penchant for continuing the work of self-poisoning, demonstrating cerebral stultification and ineptitude assimilative [...] and denoting the incipient predominance of punishable antisocial instincts. "

 

Lobato emphasizes that the arrest would be justified since the minor's family life would lead him to continue his crime, and brings Lombrosian elements to explain the practice of crimes by the young man, such as the " congenital inclination towards alcohol stimulated by the surrounding example " that would make him progress " in his terrible work of degeneracy ."

 

The reason why the young man was prosecuted is not mentioned.

 

 

Letter from Monteiro Lobato as public prosecutor was one of the few records of the writer's time in legal office. (Image: Reproduction/ Monteiro Lobato)

Teratological monster

 

While awaiting his removal to a larger district, Lobato began to practice law in the city. The then prosecutor was hired to defend the firm Gonçalves & Ferreira against the claim of a debt protested by João da Costa e Sá.

 

Lobato emerged victorious.

 

In the final reasons, two curious words mocked the accusations against his clients: "urupês" and "oblivion". One of them would give the name to his first national book; the other, derived from Latin, means "oblivion" and was, years later, used to name one of the cities in the book "Dead Cities".

 

" [...] This action is a teratological monster. [...] The monstrosities will sprout like on rotten wood, after a day of rain.. Judge, see from this quick analysis, that the Defendants were right to, at the beginning of this, classify this action as a teratological monster. It has no legs, no arms, no head. And it deserved, instead of the oblivion of a clerk's bookcase, to appear in the  Museum, inside a heated glass of alcohol. "

 

In 1911, the death of his grandfather interrupted Lobato's legal career, who, having inherited a farm from the Viscount  abandoned the profession to become a farmer.

 

" I'm going to live the free life of a farmer, raise pigs instead of accusing defendants, live like an animal or a tree instead of like a frog hat that Dr. Washington moves from here to there ", he confessed to a miner.