In a previous posting a few years ago, I criticised António Lobo Antunes. This now seems short sighted and wrong headed. Reluctantly, slowly, I have moved into the camp of his fans - and they are legion. Whatever faults his novels may have, he should definitely be counted as a great writer. Why? Because of his unique voice, of his distinct literary universe, of his incomparable style, dense, sticky, rich, funny, outrageous. Yes, it may hard going at times (I am still reading the same novel I had put away years ago when I first posted about him - Fado Alexandrino) but the reward is there. This novel, dealing with a ten year period - say between 1972 and 1982 - in the history of Portugal - colonial war, revolution aftermath - really sends you sometimes into a time warp. And it makes you laugh out loud. It can be so vivid - I wonder what germans and americans make of it in translation. Lobo Antunes says the really great writers make demands on the reader. It certainly is his case, but once you get into it, it is as if you acquired a new lens to look at the world anew (Proust dixit).
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