"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
The Last World is the story of a quest. As Cotta, following a trail of clues Ovid has left behind, searches for the exiled poet and his lost work, he discovers in the rust-corroded town of Tomi an ominous scene suffused with and dominated by Ovidian mythology, a transformed place where the ancient world meets the twentieth century. Cotta is lured into a visionary landscape that impersonates Ovid's vanished poem in which the familiar is forever transmuted in new and wondrous ways. In this world the village idiot turns to stone, the ravishingly beautiful whore disappears from the face of the earth, and the ropemaker takes on the guise of a wolf. These and other singular events furnish the pieces of a puzzle that Cotta assembles into a dramatic and bewitching story--a political and cultural fable about the end of time, the last world.
Already acclaimed as a modern masterpiece and currently being translated into thirty languages, The Last World is destined to become one of the most important novels of our time. Ransmayr writes with dazzling power and sensuously charged language about the endlessly shifting flow of time, the lusty cycle of life in which the carrion of the past forever gives birth to the new. A metaphysical thriller both compelling and profound, The Last World draws the reader into a universe governed by the power of mythology, a world of decay on the brink of apocalypse. A novel about exile, censorship, and the destruction of the planet-as well as its constant renewal--The Last World is a cultural and political fable that is blazingly topical, yet timeless.
"A brilliant exercise in alternative literary history...Mr. Ransmayr's book is all of a piece--intensely visualized, dense with magical images, and offering many obscure satisfactions."--The New York Times Book Review
"Strange and haunting.... [The novel's] smooth blend of gritty detail and high fantasy...resembles the magic realism of Garcia Marquez."--The New Republic
"As a parable...it has a vivid and unsettling force."--Los Angeles Times
"Original, unusual, and beautifully written, The Last World is a book of many pleasures, as shifting and elusive in its meanings as it is vivid and specific in the images it evokes."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"An allegory of the effects of a repressive state on the survival of artistic thought.... The Last World arrives in America flying the banners of European acclaim; now that it's here, run another couple of flags up poles."--The Washington Post Book World
Christoph Ransmayr was born in Wels, Austria, in 1954. He is the author of The Last World and The Terrors of Ice and Darkness, both of which have been published to international critical acclaim.
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Book Description Condition: Good. 1st English Translation. Former library book; may include library markings. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 39944023-75
Book Description Hardback. Condition: Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. Seller Inventory # GOR003673152
Book Description Hardback. Condition: Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. Seller Inventory # GOR003023417
Book Description Condition: Good. Buy with confidence! Book is in good condition with minor wear to the pages, binding, and minor marks within. Seller Inventory # bk0701135026xvz189zvxgdd
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. The Last World This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 7719-9780701135027
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780701135027
Book Description Condition: Good. 1st English Translation. Ships from the UK. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Seller Inventory # 16466991-6
Book Description Condition: Good. This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside.This book has hardback covers. Clean from markings. In good all round condition. Dust jacket in good condition. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item,600grams, ISBN:9780701135027. Seller Inventory # 9710386
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. Published by Chatto and Windus of London in 1990. Hardcover. 1st edition. Book condition: Very good. Blue cloth boards with gilt titles to spine. There are a few marks on the boards. Inside the pages are in good order apart from the tanning to the edges of the pages. There is a label on the 1st inside page. Dust Jacket condition: Very Good. Price clipped. See photograph. Dims: 240mm x 160mm x 25mm. 202 pages. Seller Inventory # 001780
Book Description Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. A first UK (English translation) edition hardback first published in German under the title Die Letzte Welt. Bumped at head and tail of book spine. Tanning to pages and foxing to page edges not affecting text. The dust jacket is complete, still show the price, but is showing signs of wear to the extremities. Translated by John Woods. SYNOPSIS: "A young Roman, Cotta, sets out in search of the banished poet Ovid and his last greatest work, the Metamorphoses. In the rust-corroded town of Tomi, on the shores of the Black Sea he discovers an ominous world suffused in and dominated by Ovidian mythology, a world where ancient Rome meets the twentieth century, a world of decay on the brink of apocalypse." IN STOCK READY FOR IMMEDIATE DISPATCH. Seller Inventory # 2274