For me, The Unbearable Lightness of Being-Milan Kundera; On Earth we are Briefly Gorgeous-Ocean Vuong; Love in the Time of Cholera-Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The most tragic, painful, human suffering can be presented and these writers present it in the most excruciatingly beautiful prose.
On Earth we are Briefly Gorgeous-“A woman stands on the shoulder of a dirt road begging, in a tongue made obsolete by gunfire, to enter the village where her house sits, has sat for decades. It is a human story. Anyone can tell it. Can you tell? Can you tell the rain has grown heavy, its keystrokes peppering the blue shawl black?”
What is the beauty for you?
I don’t know if anything has ever made me feel the way the ending of that book did. Somethings come close though, like parts of the first Dune novel and the ending of… Bladerunner 2049. Arrival and Sicario, I guess?
I just realized the only person I would ever trust to adapt any of GGM’s work is Denis Villeneuve.
Seriously. What a monumental task, and to execute the translation so faithfully.
So much of what makes it work is the beautifully romantic language, without feeling fluffy or pompous at all. And knowing that it’s able to remain so impactful while also being one step removed from the authors native language is unreal.