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By the Rivers of Babylon

Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
By the Rivers of Babylon by António Lobo Antunes intricately weaves the stories of various inmates in a Portuguese mental institution. As the characters reveal their haunting pasts and deep-seated traumas, the novel explores themes of memory, identity, and the human psyche. The narrative is a poignant journey through fragmented lives, reflecting on the broader social and historical context of Portugal.
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Format: Hardback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you're drawn to introspective narratives and complex explorations of personal and political turmoil. Through the author's richly detailed prose, you are invited to navigate the intricacies of human emotions and the challenges faced by individuals who are confronting life-changing experiences.

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A profound and genre-defying work of literature about love, death, and illness from one of Portugal’s most celebrated writers

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

A profound and genre-defying work of literature about love, death, and illness from one of Portugal’s most celebrated writers

Incapacitated after the removal of a malignant tumour, the narrator, António, spends his days in a Lisbon hospital enduring the humiliations of severe illness. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, he revisits fragments of his life and the people who passed through it.

He recalls the village where he lived as a child near the Mondego River amid the eucalyptus and pines, his parents and grandparents and their tight-knit community of potato farmers and tungsten miners, and the woman he loved—an unexpected polyphony of voices and places sounding in sharp counterpoint to debilitating pain.

By the Rivers of Babylon conjures the past and the present all at once, revealing the power of memory to embolden us in the face of extraordinary suffering. This is António Lobo Antunes’s homage to the beauty of a cherished life in its confrontation with imminent death.

Series: The Margellos World Republic of Letters

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  • By the Rivers of Babylon
    A profound and genre-defying work of literature about love, death, and illness from one of Portugal’s most celebrated writers Incapacitated after the removal of a malignant tumour, the narrator, António, spends his days in a Lisbon hospital enduring the humiliations of severe illness. As he drifts in and out of consciousness, he revisits fragments of his life and the people...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

By the Rivers of Babylon by António Lobo Antunes is praised as a remarkable literary accomplishment, with critics noting its exploration of human consciousness through intricate and flowing syntax reminiscent of Joyce. The translation by Jull Costa is highlighted as exceptional, contributing to the book's profound meditation on themes like Eros and Thanatos. The novel has garnered significant recognition, being longlisted for the 2024 National Translation Award, and Antunes is celebrated as a significant literary figure of our time.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780300233414

Publisher: Yale University Press

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 27 June 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: Yale University Press

Contributors:

  • Translated by Margaret Jull Costa
  • Translated by Margaret Jull Costa

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Width: 127.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 248

About the Author

António Lobo Antunes, born in Lisbon and trained as a psychiatrist, is the author of more than thirty books. He lives in Portugal. Margaret Jull Costa has been a literary translator for over thirty years. She lives in Leicester, UK.

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