The Ruin of Kasch

A sparkling new translation of the classic work on violence and revolution as seen through mythology and art

The Ruin of Kasch takes up two subjects: "the first is Talleyrand, and the second is everything else," wrote Italo Calvino when the book first appeared in 1983. Hailed as one of those rare books that persuade us to see our entire civilization in a new light, its guide is the French statesman Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, who knew the secrets of the ancien régime and all that came after, and was able to adapt the notion of "legitimacy" to the modern age. Roberto Calasso follows him through a vast gallery of scenes set immediately before and after the French Revolution, making occasional forays backward and forward in time, from Vedic India to the porticoes of the Palais-Royal and to the killing fields of Pol Pot, with appearances by Goethe and Marie Antoinette, Napoleon and Marx, Walter Benjamin and Chateaubriand. At the centre stands the story of the ruin of Kasch, a legendary kingdom based on the ritual killing of the king and emblematic of the ruin of ancient and modern regimes.

O noua traducere stralucitoare a operei clasice despre violenta si revolutie vazuta prin mitologie si arta Ruina lui Kasch abordeaza doua subiecte: „primul este Talleyrand, iar al doilea este orice altceva”, a scris Italo Calvino cand a aparut cartea pentru prima data in 1983 Salutat ca una dintre acele carti rare care ne conving sa vedem intreaga noastra civilizatie intr-o noua lumina, ghidul sau este omul de stat francez Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, care cunostea secretele vechiului regim si tot ce a urmat si a fost capabil pentru a adapta notiunea de „legitimitate” la epoca moderna.