A sparkling new translation of the classic work on violence and revolution as seen through mythology and art
The Ruin of Kasch takes up two subjects: "the first is Talleyrand, and the second is everything else," wrote Italo Calvino when the book first appeared in 1983. Hailed as one of those rare books that persuade us to see our entire civilization in a new light, its guide is the French statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, who knew the secrets of the ancien régime and all that came after, and was able to adapt the notion of "legitimacy" to the modern age. Roberto Calasso follows him through a vast gallery of scenes set immediately before and after the French Revolution, making occasional forays backward and forward in time, from Vedic India to the porticoes of the Palais-Royal and to the killing fields of Pol Pot, with appearances by Goethe and Marie Antoinette, Napoleon and Marx, Walter Benjamin and Chateaubriand. At the centre stands the story of the ruin of Kasch, a legendary kingdom based on the ritual killing of the king and emblematic of the ruin of ancient and modern regimes.
'Startling, puzzling, profound . . . a work charged with intelligence and literary seduction' The New York Times
'Unique, idiosyncratic and vaultingly ambitious... essential reading' Independent
'A great fat jewel-box of a book, gleaming with obscure treasures' John Banville
Le informazioni nella sezione "Riassunto" possono far riferimento a edizioni diverse di questo titolo.
Roberto Calasso (Author)
Born in Florence, Roberto Calasso lives in Milan, where he is publisher of Adelphi Edizioni. He is the author of an ongoing series of books which began with The Ruin of Kasch and includes The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony, Ka, K., Tiepolo Pink, La Folie Baudelaire, and Ardor.
Why is humankind's story forever marked by turmoil and tyranny? Sifting through the wreckage of history, from the French Revolution and the infamous statesman Talleyrand, to Pol Pot, Napoleon and the legendary African kingdom of Kasch, Roberto Calasso interweaves literature, myth and art to explore the story of civilization.
'It can be read with nearly continuous pleasure' Italo Calvino
'A great, fat, jewel-box of a book, gleaming with obscure treasures' John Banville
'Unique, idiosyncratic and vaultingly ambitious ... essential reading' Michael Dibdin, Independent on Sunday
'It lingers in the memory like the aroma of an ancient library' The New York Times Book Review
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Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. A brilliant new translation of a classic work on violence and revolution as seen through mythology and artThe Ruin of Kasch takes up two subjects- "the first is Talleyrand, and the second is everything else," wrote Italo Calvino when the book first appeared in 1983. Hailed as one of those rare books that persuade us to see our entire civilization in a new light, its guide is the French statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, who knew the secrets of the ancien regime and all that came after, and was able to adapt the notion of "legitimacy" to the modern age. Roberto Calasso follows him through a vast gallery of scenes set immediately before and after the French Revolution, making occasional forays backward and forward in time, from Vedic India to the porticoes of the Palais-Royal and to the killing fields of Pol Pot, with appearances by Goethe and Marie Antoinette, Napoleon and Marx, Walter Benjamin and Chateaubriand. At the centre stands the story of the ruin of Kasch, a legendary kingdom based on the ritual killing of the king and emblematic of the ruin of ancient and modern regimes. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Codice articolo 9780141397016
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Condizione: New. 2018. Paperback. . . . . . Codice articolo V9780141397016
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Paperback. Condizione: new. Paperback. A brilliant new translation of a classic work on violence and revolution as seen through mythology and artThe Ruin of Kasch takes up two subjects- "the first is Talleyrand, and the second is everything else," wrote Italo Calvino when the book first appeared in 1983. Hailed as one of those rare books that persuade us to see our entire civilization in a new light, its guide is the French statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, who knew the secrets of the ancien regime and all that came after, and was able to adapt the notion of "legitimacy" to the modern age. Roberto Calasso follows him through a vast gallery of scenes set immediately before and after the French Revolution, making occasional forays backward and forward in time, from Vedic India to the porticoes of the Palais-Royal and to the killing fields of Pol Pot, with appearances by Goethe and Marie Antoinette, Napoleon and Marx, Walter Benjamin and Chateaubriand. At the centre stands the story of the ruin of Kasch, a legendary kingdom based on the ritual killing of the king and emblematic of the ruin of ancient and modern regimes. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability. Codice articolo 9780141397016
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Da: moluna, Greven, Germania
Condizione: New. Über den AutorRoberto Calasso was born in Florence in 1941. An author and publisher, he began working at Adelphi Edizioni from its founding in 1962 and continued as director for fifty years. The Book of All Books is th. Codice articolo 594374051
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