The Prisoner of Urga

By László Krasznahorkai

In this book of journeys--to enlightenment? to a way out of a terrible life crisis? to the Celestial Empire? to a meeting with the gods?--a holy fool of a character named L szl Krasznahorkai travels for days and days across the Gobi Desert by train. Past vistas of empty vastness worthy of Kafka's China, L szl enters into insoluble metaphysical thickets but finally gets beyond the Mongolian border and into Beijing. Always searching for contact with the divine, L szl struggles through terrifying traffic to holy sites and temples (as well as to an exclusive, horrifying restaurant). But only on L szl 's very last night in China, at a famous Beijing theater, does he encounter the divine--in a most unlikely guise. The remarkable Prisoner of Urga, long overdue in English, is an early masterwork from the world's newest Nobelist--and a strange, chewy, and ever-surprising delight.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0811240835
• ISBN13: 9780811240833
• Release Date: February 2027
• Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
• Length: 192 Pages