The latest addition to my website is João Gilberto Noll‘s Hotel Atlântico (UK: Hotel Atlântico; US: Atlantic Hotel). Our nameless hero is seemingly a man whose identity is unclear and not just to us. He drifts around Brazil, apparently having no family or friends and no fixed abode. Indeed, he does not have any luggage. … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Hilda Hilst‘s A obscena senhora D (The Obscene Madame D). Our narrator is Hillé,a sixty year old Brazilian woman. Her husband, Ehud, has died and she has now become even more reclusive than she was when he was alive. Ehud was always interested in sex and a normal … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Ignácio de Loyola Brandão‘s Não verás país nenhum (And Still the Earth). This is the classic Brazilian dystopian novel, published in 1981 (when the military junta was in power) and referencing both the then current situation in Brazil as well as the elements we are now more concerned … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Oswald de Andrade‘s Serafim Ponte Grande (Seraphim Grosse Pointe). This novel, published in 1933, is an avant-garde, absurdist work. De Andrade switches between various styles – courtroom drama, poetry, dialogue letters, journalism, even dictionary entries – as he tells, in fragments, the story of Seraphim Grosse Pointe, a … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Moacyr Scliar‘s Os leopardos de Kafka (Kafka’s Leopards). This is a clever fable, whose unlikely hero, known as Mousy, is a Jewish tailor. He was born near Odessa and, in 1916, is entrusted with a mission by his dying friend, on behalf of Trotsky, to obtain a coded … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Lygia Fagundes Telles‘ As Meninas (The Girl in the Photograph). This novel was set in the late 1960s and published in 1973, during the period of the military dictatorship in Brazil. It tells the story of three young women – Ana Clara, Lorena and Lião – who are … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Helena Parente Cunha‘s Mulher no Espelho (Woman Between Mirrors). This is a feminist, modernist novel. The author and the main character are seemingly two sides of the same coin, with the character, who pushes against the author, but does not push against the patriarchal society in which she … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Heloneida Studart‘s Selo das despedidas (later: Sem dizer adeus) [Seal of Farewell]. This is a grim feminist novel, which starts with the suicide of a woman, Maria das Graças Nogueira de Alencar, from a distinguished family. She leaves her eight notebooks to her niece, Mariana and we follow … Read more
The latest addition to my website is Bernardo Carvalho‘s Mongólia [Mongolia]. A young Brazilian, son of an important CEO, goes missing in Mongolia and a diplomat, working temporarily in the Brazilian Embassy in Beijing, is sent off to find him, though he is seemingly reluctant to do so. He eventually gets some idea why the … Read more
The latest addition to my website is João Ubaldo Ribeiro‘s Sargento Getúlio (Sergeant Getúlio). Sergeant Getúlio is a tough and brutal sergeant in the military militia who has to take a prisoner from the backlands to Paulo Afonso, Bahia. However, there are a lot of people who do not want him to succeed but the … Read more