Description
A wildly comic and strangely absorbing journey, this novel follows H. Hatterr as he sets out to find enlightenment through a sequence of encounters across seven “Oriental” cities. Raised between cultures and educated in missionary schools, he consults seven sages, each offering a sweeping “generality” about how to live—only for each lesson to trigger a new, escalating adventure that tests his wits and resilience. Beneath the farce lies a sharp exploration of belief, identity, and the limits of wisdom when it’s packaged as doctrine. Celebrated for its exuberant, “gloriously impure” language—blending styles and rhythms in the spirit of major modernists—this is a linguistic extravaganza as much as it is a quest narrative.
Available Editions
paperback
NYRB Classics
Published Nov 6, 2007
320 pages
ISBN: 9781590172421
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Details
First Published
1948
Language
eng
Content Warnings
No content warnings identified.