A General Theory of Oblivion

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

On a now distant afternoon back in 2004, the filmmaker Jorge António challenged me to write the screenplay for a feature-length film to be shot in Angola. I told him the story of a Portuguese woman who bricked herself in, just days before Independence in 1975, terrified by the way events were progressing. Thanks to Jorge’s enthusiasm, I did write the screenplay. Although the film fell by the wayside, it was from that original structure that I came to this novel. In order to write the chapters about the Kuvale, I found some inspiration in the poems of Ruy Duarte de Carvalho, as well as in one of his most brilliant essays: ‘Aviso à Navegação: A brief introductory look at the Kuvale shepherds’, INALD, Luanda, 1997.

Several people have helped me in the writing of this book. I would like to thank, in particular, my parents, who have always been my first readers, as well as Patrícia Reis and Lara Longle. Finally, I would like to thank the Brazilian poet Christiana Nóvoa, who at my request wrote Ludo’s poems in the chapters ‘Haikai’ and ‘Exorcism’.