Jottings from a Far Away Place

Ranging on the fringes of imagination and erudition forming a mosaic of stories maxims and sketches at once fragmentary and cumulative Jottings from a Far Away Place combines the timeless mannered assurance of the Eastern discursive essay with the experimentation of the Western avant-garde. As the focus shifts between fantastic tales and studies of viciousness the reader is treated to among myriad other things the adventures of a Taoist guitar player a bloody episode with Countess de Báthory a recipe for cinnabar sauce and the story of a man who has been reincarnated as a spoon. A book that is like a collection of bulletins from the world of dreams.