Seiobo There BelowPaperback, 24 September 2013

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.