The Anatomist

By Federico Andahazi

Book Overview

A lyrically written, sensual, and extraordinarily enjoyable novel in which a Renaissance anatomist's astonishing discovery forever changes the female erotic universe. In sixteenth-centruy Venice, celebrated physician Mateo Colombo finds himself behind bars at the behest of the Church authorities. His is a crime of disclosure, heinous and heretical in the Church's eyes, in that his research threatens to subvert the whole secular order of Renaissance society. Like his namesake Christopher Colombus, he has made a discovery of enormous significance for humankind. Whereas Colombus voyaged outward to explore the world and found the Americas, Mateo Colombo looked inward, across the mons veneris, and uncovered the clitoris. Based on historical fact, The Anatomist is an utterly fascinating excursion into Renaissance Italy, as evocative of time and place as the work of Umberto Eco, and reminiscent of the earthy sensuality of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Perceptive and stirring, it ironically exposes not only the social hypocracies of the day, but also the prejudices and sexual taboos that may still be with us four hundred years later.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385491336
• ISBN13: 9780385491334
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Anchor Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.46 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

The Inside Scoop

This book may suffer a little in translation but I enjoyed it! It is interesting to read about the growing knowledge of human sexuality during the Renaissance especially about the brave and curious who dared probe what the Church forbade. The book has given me a new appreciation for female genitalia and the ultimate power of women's sexuality over men.

El Futuro del Conocimiento de Nuestro Cuerpo

El anatomista es un libro que me recomendo mi hermana, y no herro, es un de mis libros predilectos. Al empezarlo no pude mas que terminarlo, lei toda la noche, es sencillamente fantastico. Su narrativa es abrumadora, su talento y su propia vida, le permiten al lector llegar a tal nivel de compenetracion, que es imposible separarse de el. Es verdaderamente enrriquecedor, y mas aun, es atractivo, sutil, seductor, etc. Grandes valores para tan Gran Novela. Angela Alvarez.

El anatomista de Federico Andahazi, reflexión sobre el poder

EL ANATOMISTA, DE FEDERICO ANDAHAZI, REFLEXION SOBRE EL PODER."El Anatomista" del escritor argentino Federico Andahazi, irrumpió en las librerias y se convirtió en poco tiempo en uno de los libros más vendidos, trás el escandalo que propiciara la Sra Amalia Lacroze de Fortabat cuando expresó su inconformidad por habersele otorgado el Premio Joven Literatura 1996 que su fundación presidia, a la novela El Anatomista y que el jurado consideró era la mejor dentro de todas las que fueron presentadas. Desde entonces "El Anatomista" permaneció en los primeros puestos de ventas, generando controversias y evocando el exito de libros como " El Perfume" de Patrick Suskind, o El Amante de Marguerite Duras. Federico Andahazi, sencillo, solitario, casi anónimo, vestido de jeans, con el cabello largo atado atrás y dos aros atravesando sus orejas puntiagudas, sin dejarse perturbar por la fama imprevista y el exito de su novela traducida a 15 idiomas, expresó durante su conferencia en la Feria Internacional del Libro de Miami, en Noviembre de 1998, que "paradojicamente su libro, al igual que el protagonista de su novela Mateo Colón, habia sido victima de la censura. " Lo que irritó de El Anatomista fue su reflexión en torno al poder" dijo Andahazi. "La sexualidad femenina ha sido siempre un problema para el poder". Andahazi aclaró que su novela escudriña las relaciones entre la ciencia y el poder. El Anatomista es un libro cargado de humor, de poesía, de erotismo. Es violento, anticlerical, sarcástico, irreverente. Sus personajes Mateo Colón, Mona Sofía e Inés de Torremolinos, ingresaron a la galería de personajes inolvidables. "El anatomista" es una historia de amor insólita, la del amante que en su búsqueda de la fórmula mágica que sojuzgue a la mujer amada, encuentra "su América", "el amor veneris" y se empeña en darlo a conocer a la humanidad aún a costa de su propia vida. Es al mismo tiempo la historia del hombre de ciencia que lucha contra los tabúes impuestos por la religión católica.

Master-piece!!!

Beautiful narrative! Marvelous description of Colombo's defense. Fascinating end...

A book that will change your life (possibly).

Sex, love, passion and hypocrisy are integral parts of the human psyche, but it is rare that their literary echo is of such power. When Federico Andahazi won his native Argentina's most important literary award, the Fortabat prize. That a first novel could stir up so much controversy and media attention is in itself quite a mystery, but so is the novel's subject matter. Set in Renaissance Italy the story has all the elements of any modern novel, but it has more bite than many. Its central character, Mateo Colon, supposedly discovered the clitoris and was deemed a heretic. For his contemporaries such knowledge was deemed unthinkable as society could not accept women as having any role to play. Pleasure, be it sexual or otherwise was a male dominated demesne and if the reaction to the novel in Argentina is any guide, remains so. Through his discovery we gain great insight into human sexuality and above all that of women. The story is of a beauty and depth that make it a must for any discerning reader. It has certain echoes of Suskind's Perfume, but without the perversity. The author's treatment of women in the novel belies a greater sensitivity than that which would normally be associated with male writers, which he combines with a certain degree of wit. The journey of discovery undertaken by the good doctor is paralleled by that of Columbus (Colon in Spanish) who left the known world to chart something equally mysterious and beautiful. For the reader the experience is of equal power and may give you a whole new outlook on sexuality.