Seiobo There Below

The latest novel from ?the contemporary Hungarian master of the apocalypse? (Susan Sontag)

Seiobo ? a Japanese goddess ? has a peach tree in her garden that blossoms once every three thousand years: its fruit brings immortality. In Seiobo There Below, we see her returning again and again to mortal realms, searching for a glimpse of perfection. Beauty, in Krasznahorkai?s new novel, reflects, however fleetingly, the sacred ? even if we are mostly unable to bear it. Seiobo shows us an ancient Buddha being restored; Perugino managing his workshop; a Japanese Noh actor rehearsing; a fanatic of Baroque music lecturing a handful of old villagers; tourists intruding into the rituals of Japan?s most sacred shrine; a heron hunting.? Over these scenes and more ? structured by the Fibonacci sequence ? Seiobo hovers, watching it all.