Manuel Vilas

An anti-psychiatry manual for those who truly feel and live with passion. 

From irresistible joy, love and heartbreak, exotic creativity, despair, laughter, intoxication, or madness, the beings that inhabit these pages reveal an originality that may seem hallucinatory. This collection of lunatics—of resplendent rhinoceroses—leads us toward empathy or stunned wonder, but always, in one way or another, toward a deep identification with people who, in their drifting, are truly feeling: chaotically, tenderly, and without restraint.

In this book, Manuel Vilas portrays the exceptional nature of the modern mind and conveys—through impossible, fantastical acrobatics—that the most alluring choice is always disorder. For disorder, even in its most extreme manifestations, is undoubtedly one of the most intense ways to live.

“Vilas is a great poet and, as such, immortal—he lives within time. This condition allows him to converse as an equal with artists who share it: Kafka, Van Gogh, and Picasso.” Jordi Puntí, El Periódico de Catalunya

“Blessed be Vilas and his genre-shredding machine. Blessed be his parodies and caricatures, his grotesque humor and his satire […]. Vilas exploits everything, dares everything. He believes in what he does because he has faith in literature.” Ángel Gracia, El Heraldo de Aragón

“Manuel Vilas is probably the most dangerous writer in Spain right now. Dangerous in the sense of singular, independent, and resistant to every convention.” Javier Calvo, Quimera

“One of the most creative narrators in the field of humor writing today in Spanish.” J. M. Pozuelo Yvancos, ABC Cultural

“No one can deny Vilas—not only the narrative stamina of an elite athlete—but also a generous sense of humor and boldness, deeply nourished by tradition.” Manuel de la Fuente, ABC