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In an autobiographical essay with nuances of linguistics and cultural history, the writer reveals literary voluptuousness.
The impact of words shook a Bulgarian boy's childhood so much that he couldn't let them go. It was literature showing the still-young Tzvetan Todorov its claws, its visceral power in the stories of the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Victor Hugo in Les Misérables , and works like Tom Sawyer.
In a delightful narrative that blends autobiographical experiences with references to literary thought and great universal works, Todorov crafts unpretentious prose, a conversation with the reader, in which his dexterity as a storyteller and, at the same time, as a critic and thinker in the field of languages, stands out.
The edition is enriched with texts by Caio Meira, who, in addition to the translation, also wrote the book's introductory text, and art critic Jorge Coli. Both focus on the multifaceted nature of Todorov's essay and present connections between literature and other arts and the teaching of literature in schools.
Beware: Dostoevsky in hand. Todorov isn't the only one to "complain" about the exploits literature preaches and its consequences in readers' lives. Some find themselves haunted or forever subjugated by stories by Dostoevsky, Kafka, Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Cervantes, and iconic characters like Prince Myshkin and Emma Bovary. American cultural critic and writer Lee Segal, in an article published in 2008 in the prestigious New Yorker, highlights with priceless humor the "damage"—often irreparable—that literature causes people.
With its symbiotic nature, the book fulfills a rare role in the field of literary theory—that of portraying complex subjects, with points of contact between various art forms, written with lightness and pleasure, without losing the weight they carry. Literature in danger is a book with an opinion. Todorov exudes the fertility and meaning of existence that books are capable of imbuing.
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