The Impostor

Two exquisite novellas on memory, perception, and shifting intimacies

In “The Impostor,” a man travels with his wife through Italy and recalls a family legend about an uncle who was swallowed by Mt. Vesuvius. Preoccupied by this mysterious event, he grapples with the fallibility of memory and the enigma of time. In “Blue Butterflies of the Amazon,” a matriarch, rendered mute and paralyzed by a stroke, defenselessly observes the shifting dynamics between her only son, his wife, and her husband while they play out their complex intimacies before her.

As the characters of The Impostor wander between worlds and states of mind, Edgard Telles Ribeiro elucidates their situations in surprisingly inventive ways that explore devastating questions of reality, consciousness, and loss.

Edgard Telles Ribeiro, recipient of Brazil’s most prestigious literary prizes, including the Jabuti Prize, Brazilian Academy of Letters Prize, and Brazilian PEN Club Prize, is the author of fourteen works of fiction including The Impostor and As If by Magic. He studied cinema at University of California, Los Angeles, worked as a film critic for several newspapers before becoming a career diplomat, and is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters. He lives in New York and Rio de Janeiro.