Alexandre Gossn launches Santo Adamastor, his fifth book, this Saturday (16)

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Adamastor is a young man who grew up believing he would be a saint, convinced from childhood by his mother of a sacred destiny.

This meant that, as an adult, he became a fundamentalist capable of going to extreme lengths to advance his faith and recruit and maintain his faithful followers.

This is the plot of Saint Adamastor (Autography), a trilogy that marks the debut of writer Alexandre Gossn in fiction.

Volume I – The Conception – will be launched this Saturday (16), at 4 pm, at Realejo Livros, in Santos.

The original text was created when the writer, now a lawyer and researcher, was 18 years old.

It sat in a drawer for years until it was released.

In this first book of the saga, the reader is introduced to the emergence of the main character, from birth to childhood and youth to the conception and subsequent formation of his famous and controversial sect: The Adamastoresca Sect.

“It’s a book of humor and fiction, although it contains a lot of satire,” explains the writer.

He participated in the Enfoque Newspaper this Wednesday.

Study of the human soul

Set in Minas Gerais decades ago, the story adopts the microcosm of a small village as a stage and laboratory to study the human soul.

The work is full of references to well-known characters from the arts and human thought, such as Carl Jung, Sigmund Freud, Rita Lee and even the singer Nelson Ned.

It is up to the profiteers and unwary people who surround the protagonist to try to dogmatize the daydreams of the supposed saint and, thus, forge Adamastorism, the “philosophy” that will guide his actions throughout the trilogy, a combination of the worst in human thought on matters of religious fundamentalism and political authoritarianism.

In fact, the theme of fanaticism may be considered heavy for some readers.

However, it must be said that the author does not spare any type of extremism or absolutism, as the story is woven with an acidic social criticism not only of religions, but also of politics and even Science.

The author takes care, however, that criticism and thought serve the story, using the satire format to reflect and, above all, to entertain those who venture.

Therefore, even in the most scatological moments of the plot (and there are many), the work is conducted lightly, in a clearly comical and good-humored tone.

Between one laugh and another, Gossn tends to lead the reader to reflect on these contemporary issues.

In addition to Santos, the launch of Santo Adamastor, with a talk by the author, is also confirmed in the 19th edition of the Poços de Caldas International Literary Festival (Flipoços), one of the most traditional literature events in the country.

Origin

Although this is the first work of fiction by Gossn, who is the author of four other titles resulting from his academic research, Santo Adamastor was the beginning of his practice as a writer and began to be planned when he was still 18 years old.

He draws strong inspiration from the books he read as a teenager, such as Don Quixote de La Mancha, by Miguel de Cervantes, and Candide, by Voltaire.

Furthermore, The Alienist, by Machado de Assis, without leaving aside glimpses of the fantastic realism of Gabriel Garcia Marques and José Saramago.

The latter, an author with whom the writer has great affection and identification.

To the point of participating in lectures on Saramago’s work from the perspective of Social Sciences at literature festivals even in Portugal, Saramago’s homeland.

The author also remembers that the first volume took 12 months, between preparation and revision.

He was revised precisely by his grandmother, Nona Vicentini, one of his greatest supporters in the arts and his first reader, who died some time after the completion of the trilogy.

Program

During the program, the author spoke about his other works Chapados de Cloroquinha: the death of empathy, Pandemic Fascism – How does an ideology of hate go viral? A brief essay on the fascitoid soul.

It is his biggest success to date, already translated into Spanish and English.

It is even found in the North American Library of Congress.

In addition to Citadels & Walls: How the human being became an urban animal and the pioneer, Freedom, Metamorality & Progressophobia.

If that wasn’t enough, he worked on coordinating the book Ilumina Project – Social Stories by Young Brazilian Authors, prepared with young students from a public school in Guarujá.

Check out the program

About the author

Alexandre Gossn is a writer, researcher at the University of Coimbra (UC), doctoral candidate in Contemporary Studies at the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research at UC, lawyer, master in Law.

Furthermore, it participates in the most important literary festivals in the country.

In addition to Santo Adamastor, he published books in Brazil, South America, USA, Canada and Europe High on Chloroquine – the death of empathy
(2021).

Furthermore, Pandemic Fascism (2020), Citadels & Walls: how the human being became an urban animal (2020) and Freedom, Metamorality & Progressophobia (2019).

In fact, the first two titles selected to join the collection of the Library of Congress, in Washington (USA).

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