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Chronicle of the Murdered House
Chronicle of the Murdered House
Chronicle of the Murdered House
Ebook723 pages11 hours

Chronicle of the Murdered House

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Winner of the 2017 Best Translated Book Award

Longlisted for the 2017 National Translation Award

"The book itself is strange—part Faulknerian meditation on the perversities, including sexual, of degenerate country folk; part Dostoevskian examination of good and evil and God—but in its strangeness lies its rare power, and in the sincerity and seriousness with which the essential questions are posed lies its greatness."—Benjamin Moser, from the introduction

Long considered one of the most important works of twentieth-century Brazilian literature, Chronicle of the Murdered House is finally available in English.

Set in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais, the novel relates the dissolution of a once proud patriarchal family that blames its ruin on the marriage of its youngest son, Valdo, to Nina—a vibrant, unpredictable, and incendiary young woman whose very existence seems to depend on the destruction of the household. This family's downfall, peppered by stories of decadence, adultery, incest, and madness, is related through a variety of narrative devices, including letters, diaries, memoirs, statements, confessions, and accounts penned by the various characters.

Lúcio Cardoso (1912-1968) turned away from the social realism fashionable in 1930s Brazil and opened the doors of Brazilian literature to introspective works such as those of Clarice Lispector—his greatest follower and admirer.

Margaret Jull Costa has translated dozens of works from both Spanish and Portuguese, including books by Javier Marías and José Saramago. Her translations have received numerous awards, including the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. In 2014 she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Robin Patterson was mentored by Margaret Jull Costa, and has translated Our Musseque by José Luandino Vieira.


LanguageEnglish
PublisherOpen Letter
Release dateNov 21, 2016
ISBN9781940953519
Chronicle of the Murdered House

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A multilayered novel filled with deceptive twists and turns and a rich, opulent narrative. Take your time with this Brazilian gem!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I should note that I didn’t buy this book. I attended the 2017 MLA convention here in Philly. On the last day of the convention the publisher representative, who was actually the president or someone high up in the structure, was dishing out the books for free. Take as many as you want free. So being the book slut that I am, of course I did.Open Letter, the publisher, has a new fan and not because the books were free.Because this book is wonderful. Cradoso’s novel chronicles the fall of a family when a disruptive force enters the premise. It is one of those families that you can find a gothic book. A reviewer on a cover blurb makes reference to Faulkner, though the reference is somewhat misleading because Cradoso to my mind is the better writer. At the very least, one is not subjected to the level of confusion that seems to go hand and hand with Faulkner. Cradoso dazzles because the story is the center point, not the ability to dazzle.This novel is told from various views, from various witnesses, and if the novel has a weak point, it is the similarity of the voices, for they are not entirely disc tint. In fairness, this could be a problem of the translation or because of translation.The book is a wonder.

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Chronicle of the Murdered House - Lúcio Cardoso

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