BY A THREAD (POR UM FIO IN PORTUGUESE)

Book ID/图书代码： 12411012B55648

English Summary/英文概要： How would you react upon learning that you have a terminal illness?

This is the sensitive and difficult theme of By a Thread (Por um fio). Having brought us a portrait of the world of the prison inmate from his unique viewpoint in the book Carandiru Station (Estação Carandiru), Drauzio Varella now turns to his vast experience as an oncologist and reflects upon the impact of the prospect of death on the behaviour of patients and their families.

By taking the rather pioneering step of specializing in oncology at a time when cancer struck people with such horror that most dared not so much as utter the word, preferring to refer to it as “that illness”, Drauzio Varella came to live day-in day-out alongside the chronically and terminally ill. From his thirty years of clinical experience with varied forms of cancer, as well as with AIDS, he offers a window into the human soul when confronted with that “most unwelcome of all”, as the poet Manuel Bandeira referred to death. While on one side we see the reaction of those who discover that they are sick, a reaction that goes from surprise to revolt, from despair to silence and acceptance, on the other we have the attitudes of relatives and family members, ranging from unconditional dedication to downright meanness, from solidarity to abandonment.

Drauzio also narrates episodes involving surprising life changes, as if the vision of death were almost a liberation, a watershed that confers a new sense of the future.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 当你获知自己患晚期绝症时会有何反应？

这部敏感而又有些艰涩的话题，源自《卡兰迪鲁》的作者在巴西最大的监狱中，用其独特的视角所绘制的世界，如今Dráuzio Varella将他身为一名肿瘤学家所历经的许多经验，以及肿瘤患者和家人们在面对死亡压力时的反应，汇集至这本书中。
尤其是针对肿瘤病症的先进治疗的一次性步骤，当癌症侵袭人们时，大多数都会避忌这个词眼，而宁愿将其称作为“病症”， Drauzio Varella每日与这些身患绝症的病患为伍，共同抗击这一绝症。从他与各类癌症以及艾滋病打交道的三十年临床经验，当我们面对这些“最不受欢迎的病患”时，他提供了的一个了解这些病患心灵的窗口，正如诗人努艾尔•班德拉所提及的死亡那样。让我们可以从旁发现这些人发现自己身患绝症时的反应，从惊奇到厌恶，从绝望中去默默接受的众生相，在另一面，我们还可以了解到这些病患家属的态度，从无条件的奉献到彻底的弃如敝屣，从团结到放弃。
Drauzio还描绘了这段意外人生的插曲，宛如我们看待死亡如同是一种解脱，是我们往生未来的一个分水岭。(Sandy)

Awards/获奖情况：

About the Author/作者介绍： 毕业后，Dráuzio Varella与教授Vincente Amato Neto，在巴西圣保罗大学和Servidor Publicoo de Saoo Paulo医院，专门从事研究传染病学。这项工作让他对免疫学产生了浓厚的兴趣，并使他医院以后20年工作中，专攻肿瘤学方面的研究范围。
作为一位医疗教授，他不仅在巴西的圣保罗州立大学授课，还在国内的其他机构和国外机构，如纽约纪念医院、克利夫兰诊所、卡罗林斯卡医学院、广岛大学和日本国家癌症研究院从事病理学研究工作。他的主要研究领域是爱滋病，特别是对卡波济氏肉瘤的治疗研究。他是一位对爱滋病的预防和教育活动的积极力推者，也是第一位在广播媒体上谈论这个话题的积极医学人士。从1989年到2001年他志愿为巴西最大的监狱， Carandiru的一位无偿医师，为了解决当时在巴西男囚中风行的这一可怕的爱滋病感染病毒。由于这次经历，他撰写了一部描述囚犯悲惨生活的的畅销书书，这部作品随后被搬上荧幕， (暴走监狱/Carandiru，由西班牙电影导演海科特•巴班克Hecto Babenco)，执导，并赢得了公众和国内外评论界的一致好评。
作为UNIP的一所癌症研究学院的会长。 Varella大夫目前正带头研究用于治疗恶性肿瘤和抗药性细菌的一种巴西亚马逊的植物的潜在药用价值。这项研究由圣保罗研究基金会提供支持。

Drauzio Varella is a physician, educator, television host, and one of Brazil’s bestselling writers.

He was born in São Paulo in 1943. After medical school, he practiced at some of the largest hospitals and universities in the country, specializing in infectious diseases (principally AIDS) and later oncology. He has been an active advocate for AIDS prevention since the beginning of the epidemic in Brazil. From 1989 to 2001 he volunteered at Casa de Detenção Carandiru in an effort to fight the spread of AIDS among the inmates. Based on his experiences he wrote his first book Carandiru Station, which was published by Companhia das Letras in 1999, and has sold over 500,000 copies, won two of Brazil’s prestigious Jabuti awards (best book of reporting and non-fiction and the popular jury award) and was adapted for the screen by Héctor Babenco.

He is the author of numerous other works, including nonfiction, illustrated books on science and medicine, a novel, and several children’s books. In 2001, his children’s book In the Streets of Brás (Companhia das Letrinhas, 2000) was one of the recipients of the New Horizons award at the Bologna Book Fair and of Best Children’s Newcomer at the Biennial in Rio de Janeiro and has sold over 50,000 copies. In 2001 Drauzio Varella also won the Estadão Multicultural Award and the Unesco Citizenship Award in 2002. His recent book Por um fio (“By a Thread”) a deeply moving story about his work with terminal cancer patients, and the unique process that people go through when they learn their end is near, was published in 2004 by Companhia das Letras and has sold over 200,000 copies.

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Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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