Lit in Translation

On Earth as It Is Beneath

Assim na terra como embaixo da terra

Ana Paula Maia (born 1977)

Translated by Padma Viswanathan

English editions

In English

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Its last days are near: the penal colony, far from anywhere, is due to close and few inmates remain. The prison stands where enslaved people were once tortured and killed, and was planned as an inescapable model institution meant to return men to society; over the years that aim decayed until the colony became close to a death camp. Beneath a surface of calm, the cruelty of the place gradually emerges. Its ruler is Melquíades, the ranking officer and the convicts' persecutor, who on full-moon nights unlocks the electronic tags of some prisoners, sends them running and stalks them with a rifle like quarry, purely for his own amusement. Every man still schemes to get out.

AI-generated summary

About the book

Form
Novel
Length
144 pages in the original
Genres
Crime, Politics (assigned by AI)
Set in
Brazil
First published
2017 by Record
Author's age
40 when first published
ISBN

9788501108234 (original)

9781917260107 (Charco Press, United Kingdom)