Obscurity
Obscurity
Regular price
Checking stock...
Regular price
Checking stock...
Summary
IN
The feel-good place to buy books
- Free shipping in the US over $15
- Supporting authors with AuthorSHARE
- 100% recyclable packaging
- Proud to be a B Corp – A Business for good
- Sell-back with World of Books - Sell your Books

Obscurity by Philippe Jaccottet
After several years abroad, a young man returns to his hometown to seek the man he calls master. This master, a brilliant philosopher, had made the young man into a disciple before sending him out into the world to put his teachings into practice. Returning three years later, the disciple finds his master has abandoned his wife and child and moved into a squalid one-room flat, cutting himself off completely from his former life. Disillusioned and reeling from the discovery, the young man spends an entire night listening to his master's bitter denunciation of the ideals they once shared. Obscurity, by noted thinker Philippe Jaccottet, is the story of this intense encounter between two men who were once very close and now must grapple with the fractured ideals that separate them. Written in 1960 during Jaccottet's period of poetic paralysis, the novel seeks to harmonize the best and worst of human nature-reconciling despair, falsehood, and lethargy of spirit with the need to remain open to beauty, truth, and the essential goodness of humankind. Translated by Tess Lewis, Obscurity is Jaccottet's only work of fiction, one that will introduce new readers to the multifaceted skills of this major poet. Praise for the French edition "In its haggard sobriety, the account of this tormented soul's monologue is staggering ...a beautiful narrative, written in a resounding, solemn style."-La Table Ronde
Philippe Jaccottet is a major Swiss poet and critic and a translator of works by Homer, Goethe, HA lderlin, Rilke, and Musil. Tess Lewis's numerous translations from French and German include works by Peter Handke, Jean-Luc Benoziglio, and Pascale BrA ckner.
SKU | Unavailable |
ISBN 13 | 9780857423078 |
ISBN 10 | 085742307X |
Title | Obscurity |
Author | Philippe Jaccottet |
Series | The Swiss List |
Condition | Unavailable |
Binding Type | Hardback |
Publisher | Seagull Books London Ltd |
Year published | 2015-10-27 |
Number of pages | 160 |
Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
Note | Unavailable |