Zero

Brandao's (in)famous book "Zero" follows the vertiginous life of Jose Goncalves, a young Brazilian man. The book's structure is complex, using panels, fragments, and diagrams to express and reflect the chaos of Jose's inner and outer world. Brandao is harrowing in his view of Brazilian government and the infiltration of American consumer culture. But the genius of the book lies in its philosophical implications - where the idea of Being is not presupposed or given as an insipid substratum to the human condition; rather, the concept of multiplicity or difference in identity - moving towards what French philosopher Deleuze would coin as the "aleatory point," the zero in infinity or vice versa - is one of the books central implications. This book transcends the genre of postmodern fiction in its ability to constantly break the rules of linear narrative while, at the same time, cultivate a deeper literary and ontological coherency. At once a scathing critique of society and a burning phenomenology of one mans' experience, Zero is a journey that goes nowhere and thus... arrives at many places.