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Universal Bureau of Copyrights
By Bertrand Laverdure
Translated by Oana Avasilichioaei
From celebrated Quebecois author Bertrand Laverdure comes Universal Bureau of Copyrights , a bold, strange and addictive story that envisions a world where free will doesn't exist, and an enigmatic global corporation buys and sells the copyrights for all things on Earth, including ... Read more
Overview
From celebrated Quebecois author Bertrand Laverdure comes Universal Bureau of Copyrights , a bold, strange and addictive story that envisions a world where free will doesn't exist, and an enigmatic global corporation buys and sells the copyrights for all things on Earth, including real and fictional characters. Through this novel, which is part poetic narrative, part sci-fi-dystopian fantasy, readers become acquainted with the main character, a man who deconstructs himself as he navigates the mystifying passages of the story. Having no control over his environment, time continuum, or body, he is a puppet on strings, an icon in a video game and, as he eventually discovers within the bowels of the Universal Bureau of Copyrights, the object of countless copyrights. With touches of Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions and Sterne's Tristram Shandy, Universal Bureau of Copyrights packs a multitude of modern cultural references into an audacious exploration of identity and one's place in the world.
Bertrand Laverdure
Montreal-based poet, novelist, and literary performer Bertrand Laverdure is the author of six novels, including Universal Bureau of Copyrights (2014) and Readopolis (2017, winner, Governor General's Literary Award for Translation), both translated by Oana Avasilichioaei. His many poetry publications include Cascadeuse (2013) and Sept et demi (2007). He was awarded the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts (1999) and the Rina Lasnier Prize for Poetry (2003) for Les forêts (2000). He was a literary chronicler on MAtv and CIBL Radio, and Poet Laureate of Montreal from 2015 to 2017.
Oana Avasilichioaei
Oana Avasilichioaei interweaves poetry, translation, photography, sound, and performance to explore an expanded idea of language (whether textual, visual, aural, etc.) as reverberatory and evolutionary, polylingual and polyphonic poetics, historical structures, borders and movement. Her six poetry collections include We, Beasts (Wolsak & Wynn, 2012, A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry) and Limbinal.Recent sound-performance works include EIGHT OVER TWO (2019, Semi Silent Award) and OPERATOR (2018), and she is currently writing a libretto for a one-act opera (FAWN, Toronto). She has also translated eight books of poetry and prose from French and Romanian, including Bertrand Laverdure’s Readopolis (Book*hug, 2017, Governor General’s Literary Award).Based in Montréal, Avasilichioaei frequently crosses borders to perform her work in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She was also the 2018 Audain Visual Artist in Residence at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. See oanalab.com.Eight TrackFinalist 2020 The A. M. Klein Prize for PoetryFinalist 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award for PoetryWigrumRunner-up 2014 Alcuin Award for Book Design in CanadaWinner 2012 Grafika Grand Prize Winner (Typography)
Reviews
"Laverdure's clever commentary on identity, ownership, and control keeps us guessing right up to the end. "
- The Times Literary Supplement
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- Dimensions 152 pages, 5.10 x 7.10 x .30 in
- Published October 1, 2014
- Publisher Book*hug Press
- Category Fiction
- Keywords Dystopian , Adventure , Literary
Other titles by Bertrand Laverdure
Other titles by Oana Avasilichioaei
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