The cyclist

Dalton Trevisan, a great master of Brazilian literature and winner of major literary awards—such as the Camões Prize and the Machado de Assis Prize from the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL)—and Odilon Moraes, also a master, but of drawing and color, team up in *The Cyclist* to tell the story of a young man who, flying on a bicycle, defies the city traffic. "Bent over the handlebars, there he goes, in a flash," says the narrator of *The Cyclist* as he introduces readers to the story of this fleeting character. Racing his bicycle through the urban maze of cars, buses, and trucks, the cyclist overcomes all obstacles. Or does he? Before being illustrated by the multi-talented artist Odilon Moraes, the short story that inspired this unpublished edition was reworked by the author and republished several times over the years. *The Cyclist* appeared twice in the newspaper Gazeta do Povo in the 1950s, both as a report and as a fictional work. When it finally reached print, it was included in the author's celebrated works, such as Disasters of Love (1968), Mysteries of Curitiba (1968), and The Kiss on the Back of the Neck (2014), always offering a renewed portrait of the man in the saddle and the city in which he lives. The cyclist's courage and speed amidst urban dangers are celebrated by the narrator, while the "unwanted of the people" maintains its presence undaunted: death constantly insists on asking for a ride, even in the face of the refusal of the one it bothers, who pretends not to see it. However, even though he tries to ignore it, the man, "defenseless and fragile as he is," is left vulnerable before the giant monster, the truck, in its own labyrinth, the urban space, and suffers an accident. But no one can decipher Dalton's riddles, and the story ends shrouded in mystery. According to Augusto Massi, professor of Brazilian Literature at the University of São Paulo (USP), in a text that provides reading keys and tips for classroom work, "Dalton masterfully blends reality and fiction." Massi also believes that "turning the corner of the 21st century, the story remains extremely relevant. Just as Dalton Trevisan's moviola recreated the cyclist's odyssey in the space of a single day, illustrator Odilon Moraes managed to capture all the tragic and lyrical elements in a prolonged, cinematic traveling shot." The combination of Dalton's fast-paced prose and equally agile illustrations gave rise to Odilon's The Cyclist, a masterpiece that made the writing of one of our greatest living writers accessible to readers of all ages.