THE ABSENT MOON: A MEMOIR OF A SHORT CHILDHOOD AND A LONG DEPRESSION

New York City, NY: The Penguin Press, 2023. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: The Penguin Press, 2023. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 226 pages. Rare Luiz Schwarcz collectible set. Pristine copies of the (lovely) Uncorrected Proof and the First Hardcover Edition. The author's debut memoir and first book to be translated into English. One of the most important literary events of our time. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run by The Penguin Press as a softcover original only (in the case of the Uncorrected Proof) and hardcover original only (in the case of the regular trade edition). Both Editions are now scarce. Presents Luiz Schwarcz's "O ar que me falta" in a felicitous English translation. The Brazilian author's sublime masterpiece. In effect, it is also his response to Michel Laub's own masterwork, "Diary of The Fall" (2011). As such, there is, quite simply, nothing comparable among the interminable memoirs about mental illness written in the English language. "A literary sensation in Brazil, Schwarcz's brave and tender memoir interrogates his ordeal of bipolar disorder in the context of a family story of murder, dispossession, and silence. When Luiz Schwarcz was a child, he was told little about his grandfather and namesake ("Laios" in the Hungarian original). Only later in life did he learn that his grandfather, a devout Hungarian Jew, had defied his country's Nazi occupiers by holding secret religious services in his home. After being put on a train to a German death camp with his son Andre, Laios ordered Andre to leap from the train to freedom at a rail crossing while Laios himself was carried on to his death. What Luiz did know was that Andre, his father, who had emigrated to Brazil, was a deeply unhappy and silent man. The boy Luiz assumed responsibility for his parents, as many children of trauma do, and for a time he seemed to be succeeding: He blossomed into the family prodigy, growing into a ground-breaking publisher. At a high point of his worldly success, Luiz was suddenly brought low by a devastating mental breakdown. The culmination of his painful journey is this extraordinary book, which is beautiful, tragic, noble, piercingly honest, and ultimately redemptive, the product of a lifetime's reflection, given powerful literary shape by a Master Storyteller" (Publisher's blurb and our comment). An absolute "must-have" title for Luiz Schwarcz collectors. These are copies of the Uncorrected Proof and the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing. This title is a great book. As far as we know, this is the only set available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, pristine beauties. A rare set thus. One of the greatest writers of our time. A fine set. (SEE ALSO MICHEL LAUB'S "DIARY OF THE FALL" TITLE IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 059349072X.