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ZeroAuthor: Ignácio de Loyola Brandão Translator: Ellen Watson Latin American Literature Series December 2003 286 pages, 5.5 x 8.5 Dimensions: Paperback, 1-56478-331-6 Retail Paperback Price: Our Paperback Price: $11.16—20% OFF! 
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Book Description
Against a backdrop of political corruption José lives an ordinary life, working a dead-end job catching mice in a dingy movie theater. Everything changes when he meets his wife Rosa thanks to the help of the Happy Heart Marriage Agency.
They seem to have an understanding: José isn't bothered by Rosa's dishonesty, extra weight, and fantastically promiscuous past; Rosa isn't too put off by José's clubbed foot, periodic blackouts, or lack of direction—she just wants a house. Pragmatic, José sets out to get the money necessary to make that possible. And in doing so, he manages to become a robber, sniper, and political subversive wanted by the government.
Deploying fast-paced, short chapters in a number of styles, Brandão deftly presents an array of engaging characters and conflicts, vividly depicting the absurdity of a repressive political regime with exceptional daring and humor.
About the Author
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Ignácio de Loyola Brandão began his career writing film reviews and went on to work for one of the principal newspapers in São Paulo. Initially banned in Brazil, Zero went on to win the prestigious Brasilia Prize and become a controversial best-seller. Brandão is the author of more than a half-dozen works of fiction, including And Still the Earth, Anonymous Celebrity and Angel of Death, both of which are forthcoming from Dalkey Archive Press. |
About the Translator
| Ellen Watson, a poet and translator of Brazilian literature, is the director of the Poetry Center at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Field, Boulevard, Ploughshares, and The New Yorker. |
Praise
"A wild, surreal novel, vulgar, funny, self-conscious, painful. It is done in short takes, each with a headline; a kitchen sink kind of book, envisioning the hideous nature of life under a repressive regime of the 1960s."—E. L. Doctorow"This Brazilian novel uses exuberant exaggeration, unusual typographical layout, and artful juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated information to build a sharp denunciation of dictatorship. . . . Very much tongue-in-cheek, this novel is entertaining despite the serious message underneath."—Library Journal