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Eclipse
Paperback
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- Book Synopsis
- Winner, 2025-2026 Lindsley and Masao Miyoshi Translation Prize, Donald Keene Center of Japanese Culture at Columbia University In the late fifteenth century, a young Dominican friar sets out on a journey from Paris to Florence in search of manuscripts of pre-Christian philosophy. Along the way, he encounters an ascetic alchemist in a small village. As the young man falls under the spell of the alchemist's quest for enlightenment, a series of disasters-culminating in a total solar eclipse-strikes the village, with profound consequences. Keiichiro Hirano's Eclipse was a meteoric literary sensation when it first appeared in 1998. Its author, still an undergraduate, was hailed as a prodigy; the book received Japan's most prestigious literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, and became a bestseller. Set on the eve of the Renaissance in Europe, Eclipse depicts a society that is on the surface vastly different from modern-day Japan. Yet its account of a challenge to dualistic binaries and ossified worldviews holds striking contemporary resonance and philosophical depth. Taking the form of a memoir, Eclipse brings together an evocative portrayal of its historical setting, including the lore of medieval alchemy, with a rich literary lexicon, lush imagery, and psychological intricacy. This vivid translation offers Anglophone readers a vital work by one of Japan's most distinctive voices.
- About The Author
- Keiichiro Hirano is an acclaimed Japanese novelist who has published fifteen major works of fiction in a variety of genres and styles. His other books in English translation are A Man (2020) and At the End of the Matinee (2021). Brent de Chene is professor emeritus at Waseda University. Charles De Wolf is professor emeritus at Keio University.
- Product Details
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- ISBN
- 9780231214919
- Format
- Paperback
- Publisher
- Columbia University Press, (12 November 2024)
- Number of Pages
- 152
- Weight
- 206 grams
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 215.9 x 139.7 x 12 mm
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