Hilda Hilst

The Obscene Madame D is the electrifying masterpiece by one of modern Brazilian literature's most significant and controversial writers. At sixty years old, Hillé decides to abandon conventional life and devote the rest of her days to contemplation in a recess under the stairs. There, she is haunted by her perplexed, recently deceased lover, Ehud, who cannot understand her rejection of common sense, sex and a simple life in favour of vain metaphysical speculations. In a stream-of-consciousness monologue, Hillé speaks of her search for spiritual fulfilment from a space of dereliction. In thrilling prose that is part Joyce, part Lispector and part de Sade, Hilda Hilst takes us into the disorder and beauty of a mind restlessly testing its own limits.

A wild, grotesque satire of male sexuality and pleasure-seeking from one of Brazil's most important modern writers - part Clarice Lispector, part Marquis de Sade Karl is a wealthy libertine who seeks an answer to life’s mysteries through sex. Frustrated and amoral, he composes a sequence of depraved letters to his chaste sister, Cordélia. His story becomes entwined with that of the impoverished poet Stamatius, who finds his letters in the trash, as Hilst sets off an ingenious play of language and identity that parodies the most gruesome excesses of masculine sexuality. An endlessly playful novel that pilfers from Joyce as much as de Sade, Letters from a Seducer is a work of perverse genius by one of Brazil's greatest modern writers. Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe Translated by John Keene Hilda Hilst (1930-2004) was born in Jaú, a small town in the state of Sao Paulo. She studied law at the University of Sao Paulo before dedicating herself to writing from 1954. She published novels, poetry and plays and won many prestigious literary prizes, gaining recognition as one of the most significant and controversial figures in Brazilian literature. The Obscene Madame D is also available from Pushkin Press.

Šesťdesiatnička Hillé, alebo Pani O, ako ju volá jej zosnulý manžel, už rok žije sama v kutici pod schodmi, za zatvorenými oknami, len so svojimi myšlienkami. Spomína na detstvo a mladosť, zhovára sa s mŕtvym manželom Ahodom, polemizuje s Bohom a z okna straší susedov hrozivými maskami a odpudzujúcou nahotou. Obscénna pani O vás prinúti spochybniť vlastnú príčetnosť. Toto dielo, napísané ako prúd vedomia ženy na pokraji šialenstva, sa vyznačuje experimentálnym a provokatívnym jazykom a priam bizarnou štruktúrou. Filozofické expozé blúzniacej starej ženy, plné groteskných úvah bez akýchkoľvek náznakov sebaľútosti. nech si ku mne ľahne a započúva sa so mnou do šumu, do slov, čo sa kĺžu po pavučine, jedno teraz zastalo a pomaly ho obkľúčili žiarivé vlákna, panebože, pohltia ho, aké je to slovo, aké je to slovo? POZNANIE, Hillé, ešte ho vidieť, POZNANIE, gniavia ho jemné vlákna z pevnej hmoty. hotovo. a je po ňom.