“The Last World” is a 1988 novel by the Austrian writer Christoph Ransmayr. It is the story of a young man’s quest for the exiled poet Ovid and the masterwork he has consigned to the flames. Ransmayr has created a visionary landscape, a transformed place where the ancient world meets the twentieth century. A novel about exile, censorship, and the destruction of the planet.

“As the sea inside him flattened, wave by wave, he fell asleep. He had arrived.”

Christoph Ransmayr “The Last World”. Originally published in 1988. Translated from the German by John Woods. Published in English by Chatto & Windus in 1990. Donated to the library by Emma Lees ❤️

Photos by Anna Iltnere / Sea Library