A Man and His Shadow

Poetry. Translated from the Portuguese by Fred Ellison. Bilingual edition. A MAN AND HIS SHADOW, published in Portuguese in 2006 and appearing here as a complete bilingual edition, immerses the reader in renowned Brazilian poet Affonso Romano de Sant'Anna's enigmatic world of shadows. A master of humorous meditation, Sant'Anna offers the reader an elegant and beguiling compendium of miniature histories. As we eavesdrop on encounters between the conscious and unconscious mind, we enter a curious realm in which shadows take part in duels, fetch the daily paper, and attend orgies, while their corporeal counterparts engage in the usual impetuous acts of treachery and devotion. At once mercurial, funny and profound, the linked verse narratives in A MAN AND HIS SHADOW form an irreverent collection of organized whimsy.