* This piece was originally published by Juliana Bublitz in GZH (22/10/2024)
A classic by Moacyr Scliar (1937-2011), one of the most translated Brazilian authors abroad, has now been published in Denmark. Jensen & Dalgaard has just released Max and the Cats (Max og kattene, in Danish).
Originally published in 1981, the novel describes the adventures of the young German Max Schmidt, who flees Nazi persecution and ends up aboard a ship on the high seas in the company of a jaguar.
The Danish edition includes an afterword written by Scliar himself about the controversy surrounding the accusation of plagiarism against Yan Martell, author of The Life of Pi (2001).
Canadian author Yan Martell, winner of the Booker Prize, was accused of copying the story of Max and the Cats in his book, which was later made into a movie.
Despite the striking similarities, Scliar never sued his fellow writer. He pointed out that the story of the Hindu boy Piscine Molitor Patel – Pi – saved from shipwreck by a Bengal tiger, is different from his own. “But the leitmotif is the same. And then there’s the embarrassing term: plagiarism. Hardly embarrassing for me,” wrote the author from Rio Grande do Sul.
After the controversy, Martell acknowledged in the introduction to his book that he was inspired by Scliar’s own idea.
