Avalovara | Avalovara

At a glance:

Author: Osman Lins
First Published: 1973
Type of Plot: Existential quest
Time of Work: 200 , 1908-1940, and 1938-1970
Setting: Pompeii, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, England, São Paulo, Recife, and Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Principal Characters: Abel, Anneliese Roos, Cecilia, >O<, Publius Ubonius, Loreius, Julius Heckethorn, Olavo Hayano
Genres: Long fiction, Existential literature
Subjects: Philosophy or philosophers, France or French people, Sex or sexuality, Twentieth century, Nineteenth century, England or English people, Brazil or Brazilians, Mysticism, Italy or Italians, Clocks or watches, Germany or German people, Greek or Roman times, Netherlands or Dutch people, Space and time
Locales: France, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Pompeii, São Paulo, Brazil

The structure of Osman Lins’s Avalovara is at once astonishingly complex and altogether transparent. The sequence of events is predetermined by a geometric design which appears before the first page of text, consisting of a Latin palindrome of five five-letter words with a spiral superimposed on it. To visualize this palindrome here, draw a large square subdivided into twenty-five smaller squares—five across and five down. In the first row of squares place the letters S-A-T-O-R; in the second, A-R-E-P-O; in the third, T-E-N-E-T; in the fourth, O-P-E-R-A;...

Avalovara | Avalovara

At a glance:

The Novel

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