Published in the UK and many other countries as Spontaneous Acts
Longlist, 2024 Barrios Book in Translation Prize, National Book Critics Circle
“[A] poignant ode to artistic inspiration… Readers will fall in love with this inventive and deeply human story.” —Publisher’s Weekly
“[A]n inventive homage to modernist literature, wrapped up in an unexpectedly personal depiction of illness… A dark but charming portrait of a man unmoored by his love of an artist.” —Kirkus
“Bernofsky reunites with Tawada for a fourth title, proving again to be extraordinarily adept at distilling Tawada’s enigmatic, exacting, German-specific wordplay into an impressively gratifying anglophone experience… [A]n esoteric, erudite lull before a brilliantly shocking revelation.” —Booklist
“A keen observer of cultural and linguistic dislocation, Tawada has absorbed a kind of anti-language from Celan, a deeply affecting, sui generis diction unmoored from nationality or obvious tradition.” —New Left Review
“Tawada’s Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel reads almost like a cautionary tale…this is what happens if you devote your life to poetry” —Harper’s
