The Book of Affects - by Marília Arnaud (Paperback)

About the Book

The Book of Affects is a collection of short stories devoted to uncovering the moving, complex, and often mystifying workings of the human heart.

Book Synopsis

Critically acclaimed in her native Brazil, Marília Arnaud now reaches a wider, international readership with this English edition of O Livro dos Afetos [The Book of Affects]. In this short story collection, Arnaud uncovers the moving, complex, and often mystifying workings of the human heart as her characters grapple with desire, jealousy, betrayal, loss, and longing in nine stories ranging from the tender to the violent. The exploration of these varied themes and affects expands and intensifies through Arnaud's use of alternating points of view: male and female, adult and child. Arnaud's assured voice breathes life into these intriguing characters with masterful descriptions of their physical landscapes and inner lives, an energetic narrative pace, and polished, evocative, lyrical language. At once intimate and engaging, intense and warm, Arnaud's writing echoes some of Clarice Lispector's themes--love, loss, gender, the complexity of human relationships--and yet sets itself apart with its unique narrative style and diction. The Book of Affects offers an enticing sample of the talent and skill that make Marilia Arnaud one of the most accomplished Brazilian writers of our time.

Review Quotes

Arnaud's writing evokes the interiority of Clarice Lispector and features plot twists worthy of Edgar Allan Poe, consistently delivering surprising endings.--Alison Entrekin "Reading in Translation"

About the Author

Marília Arnaud, a fiction writer from João Pessoa, Brazil, is the critically acclaimed author of award-winning short story collections, a children's book, and three novels: Suíte de Silêncios (2012), Liturgia do Fim (2016), and O Pássaro Secreto (2021). O Pássaro Secreto was selected from 2,400 original works as the winner of the 2021 Kindle Prize in Literature in Brazil. Arnaud's short stories and novel excerpts appear, in Ilze Duarte's translation, in Asymptote Journal, Exchanges Journal, Northwest Review, Columbia Journal Online, and Massachusetts Review.

Ilze Duarte is a recipient of the 2024 Sundial House Literary Translation Award. She translates works by contemporary Brazilian authors and writes short prose of her own. Her essays and short stories appear in Hopscotch Translation, Thanatos Review, FlashFlood, Dear Damsel, Please See Me, and New Plains Review. Her translations have been featured in MAYDAY Magazine, Asymptote Journal, Exchanges Journal, Northwest Review, Columbia Journal Online, Massachusetts Review, Ambit, and Your Impossible Voice. The Book of Affects is her first published book-length translation. She lives in northern California.