Ardor

They were remote beings. Remote not only from modern man but from their ancient contemporaries. Distant not just as another culture, but as another celestial body. So distant that the point from which they are viewed becomes almost irrelevant . . . they are scattered fragments of a dream whose story has been blotted out.' Little is known about the Vedic people, who lived more than 3,000 years ago in northern India- they left behind almost no objects, images, or ruins. They created no empires. Only a 'Parthenon of words' remains- verses and formulations suggesting a daring understanding of life. In this revelatory volume, Roberto Calasso, with his signature erudition and profound sense of the past, explores the ancient texts known as the Vedas and the enigmatic web of ritual and myth that defines them. Often at odds with modern thought, these sublime texts illuminate the nature of consciousness more than anybody else has up to now. 'If the Vedic people had been asked why they did not build cities,' writes Calasso, 'they could have replied- we did not seek power, but rapture.' This is the ardor of the Vedic world, a burning intensity that is always present, both in the mind and in the cosmos. Following the 'hundred paths' of the Satapatha Brahma'a, an impressive exegesis of Vedic ritual, Ardorshows that it may be possible to reach what is closest by passing through that which is most remote. In Calasso's words, 'the whole of Vedic India was an attempt to think further.' Praise for Roberto Calasso'Roberto Calasso is a writer about the foundational myths and tales of human society who has no equal in the sparkle of his storytelling and the depth of his learning.' Boyd Tonkin, Independent'Robert Calasso is the most inquisitively suggestive literary critic in the world today.' Thomas McGonigle, Los Angeles Times'Calasso has certainly managed to open a new road through the old landscape of literature.' John Banville, The New York Review of Books'Calasso has the nineteenth-century savant's light tough in his knowledge.' Jad Adams, Daily Telegraph'A literary institution.' The Paris Review