Seiobo There Below (winner Of The Nobel Prize In Literature 2025)

By (author) Krasznahorkai Laszlo; Translated by Mulzet Ottilie; Contributions by Mulzet Ottilie
Short description/annotation:
One of Laszlo Krasznahorkai''s finest novels available in stunning redesigned paperback.
Description:
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE 2025 Beauty, in László Krasznahorkai''s new novel, reflects, however fleeting, the sacred - even if we are mostly unable to bear it. In Seiobo There Below we see the Japanese goddess Seiobo returning to mortal realms in search of perfection. An ancient Buddha being restored; the Italian renaissance painter Perugino managing his workshop; a Japanese Noh actor rehearsing; a fanatic of Baroque music lecturing to a handful of old villagers; tourists intruding into the rituals of Japan''s most sacred shrine; a heron as it gracefully hunts its prey. Told in chapters that sweep us across the world and through time, covering the furthest reaches of human experience, Krasznahorkai demands that we pause and ask ourselves these questions: What is sacred? How do we define beauty? What makes great art endure? Melancholic and mesmerisingly beautiful, this latest novel by the author of Satantango shows us how to glimpse the divine through extraordinary art and human endeavour. Winner of Best Translated Book of the Year Award 2014 Translated by Ottilie Mulzet
Review quote:
As the worthy winner of this year''s Man Booker International prize, Krasznahorkai throws down a challenge: raise your game or get your coat.
Review quote:
László Krasznahorkai writes prose of breathtaking energy and beauty. He manages to combine our most earthly concerns with large cosmic questions. His tones and textures are filled with both risk and certainty. He has elevated the novel form and is to be ranked among the great European novelists.
Biographical note:
László Krasznahorkai was born in Gyula, Hungary, in 1954. He has written 14 novels and won multiple awards including the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2025, the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2019 for Baron Wenckheim''s Homecoming, the 2015 Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement and the 2024 Prix Formentor. Several of his most famous novels, including Satantango and The Melancholy of Resistance, were turned into films by the director Béla Tarr. His books have been translated into forty-two languages, and his most recent, Herscht 07769, was published in 2024. He lives in the hills of Pilisszentlászló in Hungary.
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One of László Krasznahorkai''s finest novels available in stunning redesigned paperback