The World Goes On
Page 23
Page 299. it has no meaning under the firmament of the qanun: verbal communication from Julien Jalal Weiss.
Page 300. with the masters of qanun: verbal communication from Master Mohamad Parkan.
Page 300. The swan of Istanbul: Kelemen Mikes. Letters from Turkey. 1794.
Page 300. according to the famous story: Cristóbal de Villalón. Travels in Turkey. Europa. Budapest, 1984.
Page 300. the dream of the Quraysh: Ignac Goldziher. The Culture of Islam, I–II. Gondolat. Budapest, 1981.
Page 303. To forget the swan: Alan Baddeley. Az emberi emlekezet. [Human Memory]. Osiris. Budapest, 2005.
III. BIDS FAREWELL
I DON’T NEED ANYTHING FROM HERE
I would leave everything here: the valleys, the hills, the paths, and the jaybirds from the gardens, I would leave here the peacocks and the priests, heaven and earth, spring and fall, I would leave here the exit routes, the evenings in the kitchen, the last amorous gaze, and all of the city-bound directions that make you shudder: I would leave here the thick twilight falling upon the land, gravity, hope, enchantment, and tranquility, I would leave here those beloved and those close to me, everything that touched me, everything that shocked me, everything that fascinated and uplifted me, I would leave here the noble, the benevolent, the pleasant, and the demonically beautiful, I would leave here the budding sprout, every birth and existence, I would leave here incantation, enigma, distances, the intoxication of inexhaustible eternities; for here I would leave this earth and these stars, because I would take nothing with me, because I’ve looked into what’s coming, and I don’t need anything from here.
Copyright © 2013 by László Krasznahorkai
Copyright © 2017 by John Batki
Copyright © 2017 by Ottilie Mulzet
Copyright © 2017 by George Szirtes
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, television, or website review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
Manufactured in the United States of America
First published as a New Directions Book in 2017
Design by Erik Rieselbach
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Krasznahorkai, László, author. | Batki, John, translator. | Mulzet, Ottilie, translator. | Szirtes, George, 1948– translator.
Title: The world goes on / László Krasznahorkai ; translated by John Batki ; with additional translations by Ottilie Mulzet and George Szirtes.
Description: New York : New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017014033 | ISBN 9780811224192 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Krasznahorkai, László—Translations into English.
Classification: LCC PH3281.K8866 A2 2017 | DDC 894/.51134—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017014033
eISBN: 9780811224208
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