Book, Chronicle of the Murdered House [LS]

Language: Brazilian Portuguese. A masterpiece by one of the main Brazilian writers, the book tells the story of the Meneses clan through different narrators, who confront and contradict each other, but who masterfully construct a profound portrait of family life. A book responsible for shaking the Brazilian literary world when first published in 1959, Crônica da casa assassinada tells the story of a family in decline: each generation finds itself poorer than the previous one, squandering its assets to survive. The Meneses, however, continue to be respected in the small mining community in which they live. The Chácara, the great house that generates pride but also imprisons, is seen with reverence and suspicion by everyone who knows the clan. However, the arrival of Nina — a young woman from Rio who moves after marrying Valdo, the middle brother — will shake up the difficult relationship established between the brothers. Demetrius, the eldest, has a subtle weapon in his wife Ana; Timothy, the youngest, becomes increasingly immersed in his own decadence when he begins to live locked in a room. “The matriarch of the house is the house itself”, says Chico Felitti in the preface to this edition. “Its avenues are veins that irrigate the heart of the mansion.” Ghostly, immersive and extremely brutal, Chronicle of the Murdered House uses a plurality of narrative voices to explore the limits of desire and submission. “The poetic gift, the gift of creating life, atmosphere, of setting up the unpredictable and pathetic moves of destiny. In the Chronicle of the Murdered House this demiurgical strength of Lúcio culminated.” — Manuel Bandeira.