Penelope, A Infanta (Penelope)
Please note that all books are in Portuguese, except The Aquarium, which has also an English translation
Penelope, A Infanta (Penelope)
The first volume of Penelope was published in 1977. It is now republished, together with the previously unpublished second volume, by Um Coletivo, Ventriloquia collection, and Livraria Tigre de Papel.
This is a novel that was left unfinished and should have had twelve volumes, an ambitious replica to Joyce and Proust; it represents the most innovative and profound side of Alice Sampaio’s work. A narrative that does not unfold in a linear fashion, it is worth several readings in order to grasp its different layers.
Alice used to quote the following:
The most interesting and creative art of our time is not open to the generally educated; it demands special effort, it speaks a specialized language. The music of Milton Babbitt and Morton Feldman, the painting of Mark Rothko and Frank Stella, the dance of Merce Cunningham and James Waring demand an education of sensibility whose difficulties and length of apprenticeship are at least comparable to the difficulties of mastering physics or engineering.
Susan Sontag