Raving Press for Christoph Ransmayr in Norwegian Translation!

La Repubblica called him „the greatest contemporary writer in the German language.“ His works have been published into more than 30 languages. Ransmayr has received numerous literary awards for his books, including literary prizes named after Friedrich Hölderlin, Franz Kafka and Bert Brecht, the Premio Mondello and, jointly with Salman Rushdie, the European Union’s Prix Aristeion, the Prix du Meilleur livre étranger and the Prix Jean Monnet de Littérature Européenne.

Now, the Norwegian publishing house Pelikanen published the amazing COX, OR THE COURSE OF TIME (S. Fischer) and it receives wonderful feedback from literary critics:

»Christoph Ransmayr’s „Cox or the course of time“ is a staggering historical idea workshop.« – Bokvennen Litterær Avis

»It is also a very beautiful novel. Ransmayr’s – and, in the truest sense, the fabulous Sverre Dahl’s  – language and literary style are closing in on the great masters of German prose:  as mentioned Sebald (an obvious literary relative), and Thomas Mann. It’s rarely to be found, extraordinarily well written, resonating with both philosophical and political thought.« – Klassekampen

»Austrian author Christoph Ransmayr has written a remarkable historical novel« -Morgenbladet

https://www.klassekampen.no/article/20200314/ARTICLE/200319981

https://blabla.no/prosa/2020/03/jeg-forbanner-tiden-selv

https://morgenbladet.no/boker/2020/04/keiserlige-overskridelser

The famous English clockmaker Alister Cox is invited by the Emperor of China Qiánlóng to his court to build a series of clocks that can measure the passing of time in happiness, grief and on the brink of death. In the Forbidden City, surrounded by luxury and ceremonial magnificence, Cox and his three companions create the most incredible automata from iron, mercury and sand, beset with jewels. Grieving for his own daughter, Cox dedicates his creations to her, seeking solace in their beauty. But the court is also dominated by fear of violating one of its many rules under pain of death. When Qiánlóng, also known as “Lord of Time”, asks Cox to invent a clock that will represent eternity itself, Cox knows it’s an impossible task: he can neither put himself above the Emperor by finishing his creation nor fail in his attempt to fulfil his master’s wishes. Determined to find a way out, he sets to work on his final masterpiece.

In his characteristic beautiful writing, Christoph Ransmayr describes life in the shadow of one of the most powerful men in history, conjuring up stunning images and details of times and places long lost.

Rights sold to France (Albin Michel), Italy (Feltrinelli), the Netherlands (Prometheus), Spain (Anagrama), UK/USA (Seagull), Norway (Pelikanen).

More international press on Christoph Ransmayr’s works:

“What artistry! World literature, and world-class literature too.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Andreas Platthaus on Cox

“The greatest contemporary writer in the German language.” – Melania Mazzucco in La Repubblica

“Ransmayr – a phenomenon.” – Le Monde

“A literary master craftsman.” – Le Magazine littéraire

“A work of hallucination and magic and rare power.” – The Times on The Last World

“Brilliantly clever.” Salman Rushdie on The Last World

“Ransmayr is an idiosyncratic and anachronistic writer who has more in common with Joseph Conrad and Jack London than he does with yesterday’s one-day wonders.” – Times Literary Supplement

“A work of the most subtle searching, the most varied sensual experiences and humbleness before human existence.” – Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Atlas of an Anxious Man

“Strange and haunting (…). [The novel’s] smooth blend of gritty detail and high fantasy (…) resembles the magic realism of García Márquez.” – The New Republic on The Last World

“As a parable (…) it has a vivid and unsettling force.” – Los Angeles Times on The Last World

“Original, unusual, and beautifully written, The Last World is a book of many pleasures, as shifting and elusive in its meanings as it is vivid and specific in the images it evokes.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

“It is an evocative and haunting book, a masterpiece of multiple genres by a writer unlike any other.” – A.M. Kaempf, Northwest Review of Books on Atlas of an Anxious Man

“The Flying Mountain is a magnificent novel. (…) The book is quite simply a work of art. (…) What is there left to discover, apart from what it means to be human? Literature asks the questions, and the writer is wise enough not to provide any answers.” – Le Magazine littéraire