Mathias Énard’s immersive, nocturnal, musical journey is a declaration of admiration, a hand reaching out, a bridge of words between West and East. Translated by Charlotte Mandell.

As night falls over Vienna, Franz Ritter, an insomniac musicologist, spends a restless night drifting between dreams and memories. He revisits his life: his travels to Istanbul, Aleppo, Damascus and Tehran; the various writers, artists, musicians, academics and explorers who populate this vast dreamscape. At the centre of these memories is an elusive, unrequited love – Sarah, a fiercely intelligent French scholar caught in the perpetual tension between Europe and the Middle East.

Shortlisted
The Man Booker International Prize 2017
Published by
Fitzcarraldo Editions
Publication date

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Mathias Enard

Mathias Énard

About the Author

Mathias Énard, born in 1972 in Niort, France, studied Persian and Arabic and has spent long periods in the Middle East.
More about Mathias Énard
Charlotte Mandell

Charlotte Mandell

About the Translator

Charlotte Mandell has translated fiction, poetry, and philosophy from the French.
More about Charlotte Mandell