¶ARAGRAPH

It takes a really gifted writer with the precise recipe of unabashed honesty, wicked intellectuality and sly wit to make an autobiographical memoir truly readable. De Assis (1839-1908, Brazilian) achieved this feat in 160 intentional chapters, each illuminating luminously the trials and tribulations of his (alter) ego. Reflecting an astute style-choice (he opts for the posthumous route from the get-go since the dead could always only have fun!), these disparate tracks re-create the digressive nature of consciousness-in-being by skipping lithely between life’s predominant polarities both across and within chapters: objectivism and subjectivism (or depiction and conversation; reflection and refraction, reality and philosophy). The result is an intimate reading experience facilitated through an embracive literary structure. There are many addictive and attractive things about ‘Epitaph’, the greatest of which would be the reader’s desire to eventually obtain a fragment of Assis’ bravery in his ability to reminisce a life’s worth in glee. I affirm that this is quite possibly one of the ‘greatest novels you never heard of’.

Contributed by: s.t