I recently reviewed the novel Of cattle and men by the Brazilian writer Ana Paula Maia. It is curious that shortly afterwards I stopped on another novelty by another author from Brazil. In this case it is about Nélida Piñon, and her book The epic of the heart.
It is true that international recognition corresponds more to the second, but it is also true that in both can be found an Amazonian exuberance of language and dialogues, a kind of geographical and linguistic correspondence.
Probably Nelida Pinon be reference to Ana Paula. Nélida the veteran, wise and prestigious writer who is over eighty compared to a young author from 1977. But of course, this is a free interpretation, the result of an easy association of ideas ...
But it would be like that because without a doubt Nélida is a master at what she does. From a task of literary introspection, he is always capable of raising general dilemmas, morally, politically, and socially. The drift of society is the theme par excellence.
The epic of the heart starts from the closest environment of Nélida, from her Rio de Janeiro, from Latin America, from old customs and new trends, from impossible miscellanies and from resignations and forgetfulness of the positive values that could have been inserted in the past. new current values, accommodating, passenger, capricious.
A novel that is an analysis, a presentation towards leisurely meditation. A joy with which to recover thought as a vital reflection and not just something occasional, almost always material, commercial. And therein lies the epic of the heart, in being able to feel with the pause of the heart, or with the uncontrollable impulse of the true in the face of so much fallacy. Without a doubt an interesting novel and a constructive reading in these times.
You can buy the book The epic of the heart, by the Brazilian writer Nélida Piñon, winner of the 2005 Prince of Asturias Award, here: