My great influences in Literature

 

My work has had a number of great influences, the first of which was my mother. She used to read silently every night before sleeping. I slept with her and watched with envy, wondering how she could understand what was written on each page. I was intrigued and attracted by the written word. I remember, as a toddler, as my mother explained to me that each letter had a sound, each word a meaning. Some years later, when I started writing verses, she did not immediately believe they were mine. But as soon as she understood she had a small writer at home, she started motivating me and keeping my short poems.

Luís Fernando Veríssimo and Gabriel Garcia Marquez showed me that stories did not have to be real or even realistic; we can just let our imagination be the real thing. Finally, William Somerset Maugham may have been the greatest influence of all. I met his books at an earlier age and although he was the opposite of the other two authors who have influenced me, all too serious and formal, I loved how his writing allowed me to penetrate the soul of another human. For this exquisite voyeurism, I would repeatedly read his short stories and novels.