num_pages: 300
description: In A Brief Life, Juan Carlos Onetti's protagonist, Brausen, is caring for his wife after a long illness. To compensate for the physical void which temporarily stalls their caresses, Brausen eavesdrops on the conversation of his neighbors, a husband and wife, imagining their gestures and their expressions. But he not only wishes to imagine himself as someone else, he also seeks release from the world he knows. He leads many lives, some real and some fantastic, in order to experience a moment of psychic weightlessness.
language: English
title: A Brief Life
titlecomplete: A Brief Life
genres: Classics, Latin American Literature, Roman, Latin American, Novels, Spanish Literature, 20th Century, Literature, Literary Fiction, Fiction
ratings_count: 947
places: Uruguay
publisher: Serpent's Tail