Atlas of an Anxious Man

Christoph Ransmayr is an Austrian writer. His books include The Terrors of Ice and Darkness, The Last World, and The Dog King. Simon Pare is a translator living in Paris.

• Far-Off LandIslas Sala y Gómez, ChileTerritorialChinaHerzfeld BrazilThe Celestial BridgeMoroccoDealth in Seville SpainGhostsIcelandA City Extinguished GreeceOn the Edge of the WildernessAustria Attempting to FlyNew ZealandThe PeacockIndiaThe AttackNepalAir RaidBoliviaWild BeachBrazilMan on RiverbankAustriaThe Master of HeroesGreeceWay oo the CrossUSAVisit from AfarMexicoA Change of Resting-PlaceIsla Robinsón, ChileBy-CatchIrelandIn the DeepDominican CaribbeanQueen of the WildBrazilThe HandoverLaosFarewellAustriaIn SpaceNew ZealandTeeing off at the North PoleRussian ArcticHomecoming CanadaCurrent CambodiaThe Angel’s WorkCzech Republic In the Forest of PillarsTurkeyThe Beauty of DarknessAustriaFalling Out of the NightIndiaThe Pianist JapanFortune and the Pacific OceanChileThe Rules of ParadisePitcairn, South PacificThe Mere Shadow of a RescueMauritiusThe UndeadRussiaVisitor to ParliamentGermanyNaked Man in the ShadeGreeceA Shark in the DesertYemenBloodAustria Arc of LightAustralia Second BirthdayRussian ArcticThe Ice God IrelandThe PreacherPolandA Photographer Dominican Republic Pacífico, AtlánticoCosta RicaLove in VainSumatra, IndonesiaWhite SundayAustriaFisher GirlNepalThe ThreatMalaysiaUnder SuspicionSouth AfricaThe Chinese VaseChileCalligraphersChinaPilgrimsSri LankaConsoler of the DistressedAustriaThe TenorKola Peninsula, RussiaMan without SunIrelandSlow MotionCosta RicaThe Monitor Hunter Java, IndonesiaStorm DamageAustriaArmageddonHong Kong, ChinaThe SheepdogTurkeyIn the Shadow of the BirdmanEaster Island, ChileHunting ScenesParaguayThe WriterTibetBreaking the LawBali, IndonesiaSilent NightSri Lanka Girl in a Winter StormAustriaArrivalNepal

“Whatever the future may hold—and this is a book ruled by the past tense—it will emerge from the beautiful wreckage Ransmayr describes in these seventy tales: a world of ruins, haunted by failure and littered with the bodies of the dead, human and animal alike. Several of the vignettes evoke writing on a wall. We have no reason for arrogance, the author suggests, and little cause for hope. . . . Pare’s translation is lithe and assured. . . . Ransmayr casts a magisterial eye over a suffering world: the atlas he compiles is one in which awe at the splendour of the planet is tempered by sorrow at what has become of it.”