The Mountains of Parnassus (The Margellos World Republic of Letters) - Hardcover

"As accomplished as Milosz's admirers would expect... They may be scraps, but as the cardinal argues, so is scripture. If art these days is an enterprise doomed to failure, as Milosz suggests, a trip to Parnassus in his company is still a stimulating outing, even if the gods and muses are in hiding."-Andrew McKie, Spectator "[Milosz's] visionary, cryptic novel The Mountains of Parnassus reveals his reservations about the future of our species . . . These aphoristic, hallucinatory shards are the slightly mismatched contents of a time capsule sent to us in the present."-Cynthia Haven, Times Literary Supplement "In particularly beguiling form The Mountains of Parnassus embraces many of Milosz's preoccupations, most notably the fertile decadence of Western society and the role of faith struggling within it. Fragmentary and elliptical, Milosz's "science fiction novel that will never be written" offers a fascinating excursus into many of the poet's most pressing concerns, set forth in captivating prose."-Mark Danner, author of Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War "This is a little jewel of science fiction-like musings on the difficulties of modern life. For a reader of Milosz's works, this is a splendidly recognizable book."-Irena Grudzinska Gross, Princeton University

The Nobel laureate's unfinished science fiction novel-available in English for the first time ever Awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1980, Czeslaw Milosz was one of the twentieth century's most esteemed poets and essayists. This outstanding translation of his only hitherto unavailable work is classic Milosz and a necessary companion volume for scholars and general readers seeking a deeper understanding of his themes. Written in the 1970s and published posthumously in Polish in 2012, Milosz's deliberately unfinished novel is set in a dystopian future where hierarchy, patriarchy, and religion no longer exist. Echoing the structure of The Captive Mind and written in an experimental, postmodern style, Milosz's sole work of science fiction follows four individuals: Karel, a disaffected young rebel; Lino, an astronaut who abandons his life of privilege; Petro, a cardinal racked with doubt; and Ephraim, a potential prophet in exile.