SANJA SÄRMAN is a  woman of Sino-Swedish descent. She has two Bachelor Degrees (one in literature and one in philosophy)
, and one master’s degree (philosophy), all three obtained at Uppsala University in Sweden, where she also studied various ancient and modern languages.

At the time of writing, she is enrolled as a PhD student at the University of Hong Kong, where she explores moral and literary issues in early modern and late modern philosophy.

 She has studied visual arts (drawing and painting) at The Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels and Yunnan Art Institute in China. She mostly paints mythological motifs and portraits.

The above desription was provided by the writer at the time of publication.

Beyond Brightness is her first piece of fiction to be published. She also composes stories and poetry in Swedish and French.

Sanja introduced Beyond Brightness at the "Proverse Publishing Parade" in November 2016. A video of her presentation has been uploaded to youtube. To view it, copy and paste the following to your browser window: https://youtu.be/BUrWwmCjOC4

BEYOND BRIGHTNESS is a succession of tales where characters, many of whom are both sombre and ridiculous, have the sinews of their will cut by the knife of fate, or desire. Särman occasionally seems to be arguing that these phenomena come down to one and the same thing; adducing sentiment as proof.

Just as the carbon found in diamonds comes from the living and the dead alike, so dreams, lapses of thought, involuntary visions and sheer boredom are indiscriminately transformed into the gemstone of the special kind of feeling Särman capitalizes on – a feeling which, if it had a name, would be love of fate. “Ave fatum, gratia vidum” is the prayer that resurfaces again and again in this volume, a prayer that asks for no intercession, no screen between oneself and one’s destiny.

Although the characters are curiously individuated, the centre stage in this book is occupied by Särman’s lyrical voice, shot through and through with mystical pain, and the same stubbornly immature longing which characterized Leopardi’s “rage to live” in this desert we call the world.

AVAILABILITY
Most Proverse Hong Kong titles can be seen and purchased at the Proverse page on the website of our Hong Kong based distributor, the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press:  https://cup.cuhk.edu.hk/Proversehk
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