Enrique Vila-Matas selects the five works or fragments that, for him, best represent madness as a literary concept. In the certainty of this selection, a book emerges that makes evident the impact that literature and reading have on the formation of his personal universe. A place opens up from which we could, for a moment, approach his inner self—and the possibility of seeing the world from that perspective.

“When society protects itself from criminals, the mentally ill, and, in general, from uncomfortable people, then it is invincible.” —Anton Chekhov in Ward Number Six, 1892.

“He cried out terribly, begging and pleading with well-conceived words and reasons for them not to approach him, because they would break him; that he was really and truly not like other men: that he was all glass from head to toe.” —Miguel de Cervantes in Exemplary Novels, 1613.

“As always, he speaks, once again, of the act of writing. It evokes loneliness, his alcoholism, his madness. —Laure Adler in Marguerite Duras, 1998.

“The paranoid always hits the nail on the head, no matter where the hammer hits.” —Rem Koolhaas in The Very New York, 1978.

“How fragile, however, human life is, which does not allow for complete happiness!” —Erasmus of Rotterdam in In Praise of Folly, 1511.