Ka
by Calasso, Roberto
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On Apr 23, 2014, Anonymous said
KA, by the Italian writer Roberto Calasso, is a breathtaking and revelatory book. Calasso had hit the boards running in 1993 with THE MARRIAGE OF CADMUS AND HARMONY, a reimagining of the classic Greek myths; in KA, subtitled “Stories of the Mind and Gods of India,” he dives into the Indic myths and restores to them not only their brutal and erotic power but their mysterious, fluxive, almost vegetative qualities: the stories grow from each other as naturally as a flower from a stalk from a seed, and as startlingly, bafflingly, as the lotus stalk blooms from Vishnu’s belly. The collection of retold myths is usually a rote, schoolbookish genre: plots and characters but stale prose and no manna, no power, no emanations. Calasso is a full-flower European intellectual, and I’ll match any odds you offer that he is familiar with Heinrich Zimmer and Mircea Eliade and all the great twentieth-century mythographers, but that’s all behind the prose; he is also, here, an artist working solely, with an expressive and sensuous style, to render the tale for the tale’s sake: myth as a way of knowledge. He uses the tropical welter of the Vedic myths to envelop us; and when he arrives at the open field of the stories about the Buddha and Ananda he demonstrates how Buddhism grew out of Hinduism with a clarity we feel in our bones. Tim Parks has translated beautifully, not least in the playful cadences that close the book, that lull us back into story and wheel us back around to the book’s beginning. Calasso at the end evokes the hymn to Ka from the Rig Veda, with its teasing, lyric questions: “He who brought forth the great and lucid waters: Who shall we adore with our oblations?” KA—the Sanskrit word for “Who?”—is the book’s question; these stories, from the great and lucid waters of Indic myth, are its myriads of answer.
On Apr 23, 2014, a reader said
KA, by the Italian writer Roberto Calasso, is a breathtaking and revelatory book. Calasso had hit the boards running in 1993 with THE MARRIAGE OF CADMUS AND HARMONY, a reimagining of the classic Greek myths; in KA, subtitled “Stories of the Mind and Gods of India,” he dives into the Indic myths and restores to them not only their brutal and erotic power but their mysterious, fluxive, almost vegetative qualities: the stories grow from each other as naturally as a flower from a stalk from a seed, and as startlingly, bafflingly, as the lotus stalk blooms from Vishnu’s belly. The collection of retold myths is usually a rote, schoolbookish genre: plots and characters but stale prose and no manna, no power, no emanations. Calasso is a full-flower European intellectual, and I’ll match any odds you offer that he is familiar with Heinrich Zimmer and Mircea Eliade and all the great twentieth-century mythographers, but that’s all behind the prose; he is also, here, an artist working solely, with an expressive and sensuous style, to render the tale for the tale’s sake: myth as a way of knowledge. He uses the tropical welter of the Vedic myths to envelop us; and when he arrives at the open field of the stories about the Buddha and Ananda he demonstrates how Buddhism grew out of Hinduism with a clarity we feel in our bones. Tim Parks has translated beautifully, not least in the playful cadences that close the book, that lull us back into story and wheel us back around to the book’s beginning. Calasso at the end evokes the hymn to Ka from the Rig Veda, with its teasing, lyric questions: “He who brought forth the great and lucid waters: Who shall we adore with our oblations?” KA—the Sanskrit word for “Who?”—is the book’s question; these stories, from the great and lucid waters of Indic myth, are its myriads of answer.
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KA
by CALASSO, Roberto
- Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Published
- 1998
- Binding
- Softcover
- ISBN
- 9780679451310
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
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Gloucester City, New Jersey, USA
- Item Price
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$20.00
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Description:
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. Softcover. Near Fine. Uncorrected proof. Wrappers. Translated from the Italian by Tim Parks. Faint toning else near fine. Item Price
$20.00
Ka : Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by Calasso, Roberto
- Condition
- Used - Near Fine
- Jacket Condition
- Near Fine
- Edition
- First UK Edition
- Published
- 1998
- Binding
- Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780224050524
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
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London, Greater London, GBR
- Item Price
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$75.37
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London: Jonathan Cape 1998. 8vo. 446 pp. Publisher's hardback in dust jacket. Illustrations. No ownership names. Internally very clean in bright dust jacket. 9780224050524 . Near Fine. Hardback. First UK Edition. 1998. Item Price
$75.37
KA: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by CALASSO, Roberto
- Condition
- Used - Fine
- Published
- 1998
- Binding
- Softcover
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
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Gloucester City, New Jersey, USA
- Item Price
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$30.00
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New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1998. Softcover. Fine. Uncorrected proof. White wrappers. Translated from the Italian by Tim Parks. -Fine with publisher's material stapled to the verso of the front wrapper. Item Price
$30.00
Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India (American)
by Roberto Calasso
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- Very Good
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- First American
- Published
- October 1998
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9780679451310
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- 1
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Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- Item Price
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$10.99
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Alfred A. Knopf, October 1998. First American. Hardcover . Very Good/Very Good. With the same startling originality and brilliance that made his 'The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony' a literary landmark, Calasso narrates the birth of one of the world's great cultures: the formation of the mind of India. 17 illustrations. Green boards with a darker green leather… Read more about this item Item Price
$10.99
Ka : Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by Roberto Calasso
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- Used - Good
- Published
- 1998
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9780679451310
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Seattle, Washington, USA
- Item Price
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$9.05
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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1998. Hardcover. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed. Item Price
$9.05
Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by Roberto Calasso
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- Used: Good
- Edition
- F First Edition Used
- Published
- 1998-10-27
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9780679451310
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HOUSTON, Texas, USA
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$12.80
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Brand: Knopf, 1998-10-27. F First Edition Used. hardcover. Used: Good. Item Price
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PLAYBOY Magazine December 2012 [Nude Marilyn]
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- 1st Edition
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- 2012
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- Paperback
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Endicott, New York, USA
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$14.95
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Playboy, Beverly Hills, CA, 2012. 10.75" X 8" in illustrated paper covers - Marilyn Monroe on the cover. Minor shelf wear, but clean, tight, unmarked: NEAR FINE condition. 202pp.. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Near Fine/No Jacket. Item Price
$14.95
Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by Calasso, Roberto
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- 9780679775478
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Skokie, Illinois, USA
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$3.90
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UsedVeryGood. Cover has some wear. Page edges have marks. Clean pages. Item Price
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KA
by CALASSO,ROBERTO
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NEW YORK, New York, USA
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$16.95
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pb. New. Brand New. Ships from an indie bookstore in NYC. Item Price
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Ka
by Calasso, Roberto
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- Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780224050524
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GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, GBR
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Hardback. Very Good. Item Price
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Ka
by Calasso, Roberto
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- Used - Good
- Binding
- Hardback
- ISBN
- 9780224050524
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GORING BY SEA, West Sussex, GBR
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Ka : Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by Calasso, Roberto
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- ISBN
- 9780679775478
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Reno, Nevada, USA
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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Used - Good. Used book that is in clean, average condition without any missing pages. Item Price
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Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by Calasso, Roberto
- Condition
- Used: Good
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- Illustrated
- Published
- 1999-11-02
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- 9780679775478
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HOUSTON, Texas, USA
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Vintage, 1999-11-02. Illustrated. paperback. Used: Good. Item Price
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Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by Calasso, Roberto
- Condition
- Used:Good
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- Illustrated
- Published
- 1999-11-02
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- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780679775478
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HOUSTON, Texas, USA
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Vintage, 1999-11-02. Illustrated. paperback. Used:Good. Item Price
$21.95
Ka : Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by Roberto Calasso
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Published
- 1998
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9780679451310
- Quantity Available
- 1
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Seattle, Washington, USA
- Item Price
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$8.99
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Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1998. Hardcover. Good. Disclaimer:A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact. The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include previous owner inscriptions. The dust jacket is missing. At ThriftBooks, our motto… Read more about this item Item Price
$8.99
KA: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by CALASSO, Roberto
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- Used - Very Good
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- No Jacket
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- First Edition
- Published
- 1998
- Binding
- Softcover
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Hadley, Massachusetts, USA
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$20.00
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NY: Alfred A. Knopf. 1998. Advance Uncorrected Proof. Very Good in wrappers. Unless otherwise noted, our first editions are first printings. First Edition. Softcover. Very Good. Item Price
$20.00
Ka
by Calasso, Roberto
- Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Published
- 1999
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780099750710
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- 1
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Seattle, Washington, USA
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$9.75
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Vintage Books, 1999. Paperback. Very Good. Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed. Item Price
$9.75
Ka
by Calasso, Roberto
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Published
- 1999
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9780099750710
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
Seattle, Washington, USA
- Item Price
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$9.75
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Vintage Books, 1999. Paperback. Good. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed. Item Price
$9.75
Ka (Spanish Edition)
by Calasso, Roberto
- Condition
- Used - Good
- Published
- 1999-06-01
- Binding
- Paperback
- ISBN
- 9788433908902
- Quantity Available
- 1
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Alplaus, New York, USA
- Item Price
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$40.00
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Anagrama, 1999-06-01. Paperback. Good. 7x0x5. NOTE: In Spanish. Handwritten notations on last blank page, else no text markings noted, moderate wear. Item Price
$40.00
Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India
by Roberto Calasso
- Condition
- Used:Good
- Edition
- F First Edition Used
- Published
- 1998-10-27
- Binding
- Hardcover
- ISBN
- 9780679451310
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Seller
-
HOUSTON, Texas, USA
- Item Price
-
$47.24
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Description:
Brand: Knopf, 1998-10-27. F First Edition Used. hardcover. Used:Good. Item Price
$47.24