Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming Contributor(s): Krasznahorkai, László (Author), Mulzet, Ottilie (Translator) |
|
ISBN: 0811226646 ISBN-13: 9780811226646 Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation OUR PRICE: $26.96 Product Type: Hardcover Published: September 2019 |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Fiction | Absurdist - Fiction | Literary - Fiction | Cultural Heritage |
Dewey: 894.511 |
LCCN: 2019025135 |
Physical Information: 2.2" H x 5.6" W x 8.1" (1.80 lbs) 576 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Set in contemporary times, Baron Wenckheim's Homecoming tells the story of a Prince Myshkin-like figure, Baron Béla Wenckheim, who returns at the end of his life to his provincial Hungarian hometown. Having escaped from his many casino debts in Buenos Aires, where he was living in exile, he longs to be reunited with his high-school sweetheart Marika. Confusions abound, and what follows is an endless storm of gossip, con men, and local politicians, vividly evoking the small town's alternately drab and absurd existence. All along, the Professor--a world-famous natural scientist who studies mosses and inhabits a bizarre Zen-like shack in a desolate area outside of town--offers long rants and disquisitions on his attempts to immunize himself from thought. Spectacular actions are staged as death and the abyss loom over the unsuspecting townfolk. |
Contributor Bio(s): Mulzet, Ottilie: - Ottilie Mulzet is a literary critic and translator of Hungarian. Mulzet received the Best Translated Book Award in 2014 for her translation of Krasznahorkai's Seiobo There Below.Krasznahorkai, Laszlo: - László Krasznahorkai, described by James Wood in The New Yorker as an "obsessive, visionary," was born in Gyula, Hungary. He is the winner of the 2015 Man Booker International Prize and was nominated again in 2018. |