"Destruction and Sorrow Beneath the Heavens, a book of quasi-fictional reportage by László Krasznahorkai (who styles himself the poet Stein throughout), is a travelogue under modern China's apocalyptic sky. The book, which many will find controversial, details Stein's pilgrimage in search of the authentic current of Chinese tradition, a search that leads him to denounce the country's so-called economic miracle as a general collapse. . . . Stein is only too aware that he is at odds with the times, and that perhaps he is beyond understanding modern China. . . . Such is the sorrow of the title of this book, a long lament for the final ancient civilization of world history. We are called upon to wonder: is there anywhere an individual can experience the condition of perfect tranquility?"– "Los Angeles Review of Books"
