Spadework for a Palace

László Krasznahorkai (New Directions), John Batki (New Directions)

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English

North Atlantic
01 June 2023

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Crime & Mystery; Short stories

Series: Storybook ND Series

Spadework for a Palace bears the subtitle ""Entering the Madness of Others"" and offers an epigraph: ""Reality is no obstacle."" Indeed. This high-octane obsessive rant vaults over all obstacles, fueled by the idées fixe of a ""gray little librarian"" with fallen arches whose name-mr herman melvill-is merely one of the coincidences binding him to his lodestar Herman Melville (""I too resided on East 26th Street . . . I, too, had worked for a while at the Customs Office""), which itself is just one aspect of his also being ""constantly conscious of his connectedness"" to Lebbeus Woods, to the rock that is Manhattan, to the ""drunkard Lowry"" and his Lunar Caustic, to Bartok. And with this consciousness of connection he is not only gaining true knowledge of Melville, but also tracing the paths to ""a Serene Paradise of Knowledge."" Driven to save that Palace (a higher library he also serves), he loses his job and his wife leaves him, but ""people must be told the truth: there is no dualism in existence."" And his dream will be ""realized, for I am not giving up: I am merely a day-laborer, a spade-worker on this dream, a herman melvill, a librarian from the lending desk, currently an inmate at Bellevue, but at the same time-may I say this?-actually a Keeper of the Palace.""

By: László Krasznahorkai (New Directions)
Translated by: John Batki (New Directions)
Imprint: North Atlantic
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 0
Dimensions: Height: 239mm, Width: 160mm, Spine: 15mm
Weight: 286g
ISBN: 9780811228404
ISBN 10: 0811228401
Series: Storybook ND Series
Pages: 80
Publication Date: 01 June 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

The winner of the 2019 National Book Award for Translated Literature and the 2015 Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement, László Krasznahorkai was born in Gyula, Hungary. John Batki is a kilimologist, writer, translator, and visual artist. He was born in Hungary and has lived in the United States since age fourteen.

Reviews for Spadework for a Palace

A celebration of tiny moments of odd, inexplicable joy. -- NPR Krasznahorkai establishes his own rules and rides a wave of exhilarating energy. Apocalyptic, visionary, and mad, it flies off the page and stays lodged intractably wherever it lands. -- Publishers Weekly (Starred) Wild and wonderful. -- Adam Thirlwell - The Guardian One of the most important-and eccentric-writers working today. -- Hari Kunzru - The Spectator