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Laszlo Krasznahorkai is a celebrated Hungarian novelist. His works include Satantango and Seibo There Below. Ottilie Mulzet is a literary critic and award-winning Hungarian translator.
"In Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens, Asia is once again
at the center of Krasznahorkai's
attention, but this time he sends his protagonist Stein to China to
discover if and how the country's classical culture lives on in the
twenty-first century. . . . Krasznahorkai skillfully balances
Stein's melodramatic quest for the remnants of metaphysical meaning
with an ironic mode that exposes this endeavor while also harboring
a certain degree of sympathy for it."-- "Slavic and East European
Journal"
"Masterfully translated by Mulzet, Destruction and Sorrow beneath
the Heavens . . . bridges the dark visions of Krasznahorkai's
earlier work to the Buddhist-like meditations of his more recent
books. . . . Krasznahorkai allows himself to take pleasure in
appreciating the past rather than decrying it's loss. . . . Less of
a travelogue than a personal document for the writer, a critical
artistic step that has taken him to a more sublime era of his
career."-- "Frieze"
"Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens, a book of
quasi-fictional reportage by László Krasznahorkai (who styles
himself the poet Stein throughout), is a travelogue under modern
China's apocalyptic sky. The book, which many will find
controversial, details Stein's pilgrimage in search of the
authentic current of Chinese tradition, a search that leads him to
denounce the country's so-called economic miracle as a general
collapse. . . . Stein is only too aware that he is at odds with the
times, and that perhaps he is beyond understanding modern China. .
. . Such is the sorrow of the title of this book, a long lament for
the final ancient civilization of world history. We are called upon
to wonder: is there anywhere an individual can experience the
condition of perfect tranquility?"-- "Los Angeles Review of
Books"
"A book-length investigation that represents a different kind of
transfiguration for an author best known in the Anglophone world
for his fiction. . . . Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens
is a travelogue in the broadest sense of the term, and like all
great travelogues it links a change in scenery to a change in
emotional state. . . . For so many years, Krasznahorkai's name was
synonymous with apocalypse. Now Krasznahorkai has transformed and
transcended; he has changed from an angry prophet to a wide-eyed
archivist and a hopeful seeker."-- "New Republic"
"Of all the 'China books' one may read this year, or next, or
possibly the rest of the decade, none is likely to be as
confounding, or enthralling, as Krasznahorkai's Destruction and
Sorrow Beneath the Heavens. . . . There is a literary sensibility
to the writing that is unmatched by any other book I can recall in
this vaguely-defined genre. Krasznahorkai's intellect radiates from
the pages. He is no simple observer: he intervenes, meddles,
berates, insists--and ponders."-- "Asian Review of Books"
"Offering an interesting glimpse--from a foreign perspective--of
near-contemporary China, Destruction and Sorrow beneath the Heavens
is also an interesting (if somewhat limited) consideration of the
tremendous cultural--in every respect--changes China has undergone
(and continues to), addressing issues of relevance elsewhere too
(as such loss of tradition and cultural decline is hardly unique to
China, even as it often manifests itself differently elsewhere)."--
"Complete Review"
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