Geography of Rebels gathers three short books by the Portuguese writer Maria Gabriela Llansol ... Geography of Rebels is an exploratory text, not the kind of narrative that Deep Vellum usually publishes ... A great part of the appeal of Llansol’s work is the way that it follows the consequences of dissolution to their extreme, as the 'I' transforms into other people beyond oneself, the present moment transforms into other histories beyond the present time, and human contact transforms into a wholeness beyond the constraints of the written page.
Geography of Rebels conjures up a dreamlike, shapeshifting world in which characters can be human one minute and animals the next ... The Dallas-based publisher Deep Vellum is to be commended for the bold and inspired choice, and Audrey Young for a bewitching translation in which each word feels both carefully weighed and feather-light. This is an astonishing, otherworldly and utterly original book, and it reveals Llansol as one of the most fascinating Portuguese writers of the twentieth century.
I must admit that when I started reading this book, I really did not get into it. Gradually, however, it very much grew on me, as I started to appreciate what Llansol was doing. Clearly you cannot approach it the way you would a conventional novel. It is about images and thoughts, about writing and nature, about the role of women in communities ... Llansol denied that her work was difficult but I think many readers would consider this book difficult. Nevertheless, it is well worth the effort as it is a very beautiful book, superbly well written and a book that addresses European intellectual history and thought in a way that is rarely found in modern literature.
