Tom Lanoye is a Belgian author celebrated for his diverse literary output, encompassing novels, poetry, screenplays, and plays. He began his career as an independent publisher, driven by a desire to challenge existing structures and understand the craft from within. Once an enfant terrible, Lanoye has become one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed writers in his linguistic sphere. His works are translated into numerous languages and he is a regular presence at major European theater festivals.
Good-natured and often humorous, Speechless is at times a 'song of curses', as Lanoye describes the conflicts with his beloved diva of a mother and her brave struggle with decline and death. This is an informal, honest testimony of a mother by her son. But it's also the portrait of a generation, of family life in the sixties and seventies. Speechless will speak to anyone who has a family.
Two döppelganger Belgian exiles - both named Tony Hanssen - are on the run from the lies and deceit that have defined their lives so far. One lives in Argentina, the other in South Africa, and the history of those countries also plays an important part in this contemporary novel. When they accidentally meet on another continent, they realise that each could hold the solution to the other's problems.