His extremely concise and refined tales have been called "Haikus in prose".
They are often based on dialogue, using a popular language, and underline the torturing and absurd aspects of everyday life.
Often brutal, his narratives can be considered the reverse of moral tales, exposing a culture of perversion and violence underlying middle class hypocrisy.As of 2012, only one of his books has been translated into English, The Vampire of Curitiba, in 1972.He graduated from the Federal University of Paraná in legal studies but seldom worked in the law profession.