Knowledge of Hell
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Like his creator, the narrator of this novel is a psychiatrist who loathes psychiatry, a veteran of the despised 1970s colonial war waged by Portugal against Angola, a survivor of a failed marriage, and a man seeking meaning in an uncaring and venal society. The reader joins that narrator on a journey, both real and phantasmagorical, from his Algarve vacation back to Lisbon and the mental-hospital job he hates. In the course of one long day and evening, he carries on an imaginary conversation with his daughter Joanna, observes with surreal vision the bleak countryside of his nation, recalls the horrors of his involuntary role in the suppression of Angolan independence, and curses the charlatanism of contemporary psychiatric “advances” that destroy rather than heal.
Antonio Lobo Antunes was born in Lisbon, Portugal in 1942. He began writing as a child, but at his father's wishes, went to medical school instead of pursuing a career in writing. After completing his studies, Antunes was sent to Angola with the Portuguese Army. It was in a military hospital in Angola that Antunes first became interested in many of the subjects of his novels. Antunes lives in Lisbon, where he continues to write and practice psychiatry. Clifford E. Landers has translated works from Brazilian Portuguese by such authors as Jorge Amado, Joa o Ubaldo Ribiero, Igna cio de Loyola Branda o, and Osman Lins. His Literary Translation: A Practical Guide was published by Multilingual Matters Ltd. in 2001. He was awarded both the Mario Ferreira Award in 1999 from ATA s Portuguese Language Division, as well as a Prose Translation grant from the NEA in 2004.