Calasso's previous venture into cultural history, The Marriage of
Cadmus and Harmony, which considered the Greek contribution to
classical culture, was an intellectual sensation when it first
appeared. Here he gives a similar treatment to India. But rather
than explain the world of Siva, Brahma and Vishnu, the wars of the
Mahabharata and the advent of the Buddha, he brings this mental
world alive through the very stories and customs of which it is
made up. Ka opens with an immense eagle flying through the sky, an
elephant and a giant turtle clutched in its claws. The first
impression is one of strangeness and bewilderment, but persevere,
and this is eventually replaced by wonder as the ancient myths work
their timeless magic. (Kirkus UK)
It is the essence of Roberto Calasso's particular genius to have evolved a unique way of reconstructing the imaginative heart of some of the world's greatest cutlures. In the Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony it was the 'Greekness' of classical culture; in Ka he gives us the 'Indianness' of the mind of India, but in an Indian way. He does not describe or explain this mental world: he regenerates it through its stories and customs. Who is KA? And who is the immense eagle who asks this question, filling the sky, an elephant and a giant turtle in his claws? How can he be the child of woman? Who are these tiny folk he eats? The first impact of Ka is one of tremendous strangeness, bewilderment, disorientation. Slowly, however, the strange becomes familiar and - as Ka folds and enfolds the world of the Deva and the Seven Seers, of Siva, Brahma and Visnu, the wars of the Mahabharata, and finally the advent of the Buddha - we are amazed at our own recognition. These stories lie so close to the grain of our own experience that they confirm, or for the first time articulate, our own deepest perceptions about our condition.
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