António Lobo Antunes was born in
Lisbon on 1 September 1942 as the eldest of six sons of João Alfredo de Figueiredo Lobo Antunes, prominent
neurologist and professor, close collaborator of
António Egas Moniz, Nobel Prize winner in physiology, and wife Margareida de Almeida Lima. He was the brother of
João Lobo Antunes and
Manuel Lobo Antunes. According to Lobo Antunes, he was of German descent through his father and of Jewish descent through his maternal grandfather. In one interview, he stated that his mother's family came from Brazil; in another, he stated that it was his father who was of Brazilian origin. By the end of his education, Lobo Antunes had to serve with the
Portuguese Army to take part in the
Portuguese Colonial War (1961–1974). In a military hospital in
Angola, he became interested in the subjects of death and "the other." Lobo Antunes came back from Africa in 1973. In 1979, Lobo Antunes published his first novels,
Memória de Elefante (Elephant's Memory) and
Os Cus de Judas; in 1980, he published another novel,
Conhecimento do Inferno. He practised psychiatry as well, mainly at the Hospital Miguel Bombarda of Lisbon, leaving in 1985 to dedicate himself to literature. ==Personal life and death==