Uma tristeza infinita
An Infinite Sadness
by Antônio Xerxenesky
Companhia das Letras, 2021
256 pages
14×21 cm
In a story that is both introspective and brutal, Antônio Xerxenesky forces us to confront past traumas, but, above all, to face our fears for the future.
Nicolas, a young French psychiatrist, is invited to work in Switzerland shortly after the end of World War II. Together with his wife Anna, he moves to a small Swiss village, close to the psychiatric hospital where he works. Known for its humane treatment methods, the hospital accepts patients from all over Europe.
Nicolas is resistant to prescribe treatments like electroshock therapy, he prefers to talk with his patients until something is uncovered — either in the patient’s unconscious mind or in his own. During these conversations, various war wounds are brought to the surface, in a delicately balanced game combining trust and madness.
Set against the backdrop of the development of the first drugs created to treat depression and other mental illnesses, Antônio Xerxenesky has constructed a touching novel about trauma, the past, and the possibility to be happy in spite of suffering.
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Winner of the Prêmio São Paulo 2022
Finalist of the Prêmio Jabuti 2022
Rights sold: World English, World French
Rights available in all other territories
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Antônio Xerxenesky (1984) is a Brazilian writer and translator. He is the au- thor of F (Rocco 2014, finalist of the São Paulo Prize for Literature and of the first selection of the Prix Médicis Étranger). His works have been translated to Spanish, Italy and French. He was a resident writer of the International Wri- ting Program of the Iowa University (USA) in 2015 and of the Foundation Jan Michalski in Montricher (Switzerland) in 2017.
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