Actively Pitching

Suíte de Silêncios (Suite of Silence) is the story of Duína Torrealba, told in a letter of sorts to her beloved, who has left her. The narration alternates between the present time, when the narrator shares her memories of their love affair and the pain of separation, and the narrator’s childhood, when her mother left the family. In her efforts to cope with the trauma of abandonment, Duína has sought refuge in her music and her silence. Duína describes the aftermath of her mother’s departure and its effects on her psyche: an eroded self-esteem and a profound sense of guilt, which in turn rendered her vulnerable to a predatory adult. This love letter Duína addresses to her beloved is also a testament to her deep desire to live a life that is genuine, albeit steeped in pain, and to be true to herself, even as she tries to understand who that self is. Rendered in refined, evocative, lyrical prose, Suite of Silence reads like a sad yet delightful poem. 
As in all of Arnaud’s work, descriptions of place and the protagonist’s relationship to it immerse us in the character’s physical and emotional world. Here is Ilze's translation of a passage where Duína describes her former lover’s hometown, Pedra Santa (Holy Rock):
Pedra Santa sleeps, lulled by the rain that washes the dust off the streets and runs down the drains, soaking the earth with humanity. I hear the quiet chords of its breathing, patient and resigned; I feel the slightly rancid breath of the old town.
What does Pedra Santa dream about, I wonder?
From here, I spot facets of its distracted beauty: sidewalks bathed in a dancing, faded luminosity, which reaches me and sprawls out, wobbly, across the floor and walls of this room; trees with bending boughs, moaning out the notes of a violin in need of tuning; the web of narrow streets and avenues intersecting and stretching out amidst bridges lined with old lamps and iron statues; the river with its slimy belly, its sleepless and capricious waters; the church tower and its belfry, where a bell dies of loneliness. 
Where is the heart of Pedra Santa, my love? 
Just answer and please do not ask anything. Do not ask why I write to you. I write because words are out there, like the town, the night, the rain, the river, before me, inside me, a torrent of words that do not fulfill me. Words are points of light in the pitch black of lost things, glimmers of hope, the gaze of a mother with flowers tucked behind her ears, a miracle full of faith waiting to be achieved. 

What do I have to leave you other than words?
Is it possible that there has been a time when words didn’t exist, when it is words that give order to the world, make love real, take the night out of the day?

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Praise for Suite of Silence

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The dense and beautiful Suite of Silence is the debut novel of short story writer and Paraíba native Marília Arnaud. Her debut in this genre reaches us with great stamina and a moving narrative, full of lyricism and steeped in a dense atmosphere. The narrative voices explore the possible guises of love, but above all, the unique ways the protagonist tries to balance, from an early age, the equation of love, loss, and mourning.  Mariana Lage, author and journalist

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Marilia Arnaud’s novel belongs in the tradition of the urban-existentialist narrative, mastered by Clarice Lispector. Duína’s narrative is, in fact, strongly existentialist. The protagonist is all anguish. Duína searches for Eros, for life. Her narrative is one of despair, and yet, the reader is held captive to a narrative voice that flows well and is attractive. Thus, the death that sits upon Duína is offset by the vital energy of the narrative.  Rinaldo de Fernandes, author, literature professor, and literary critic

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Ilze Duarte has written about her experience of discovering Marilia Arnaud’s work and translating Suite of Silence. Click here for her essay Another Kind of Emergence, published in Hopscotch Translation.