‘It starts to rain as I step
out of my hotel ....’ So begins Subhash Jaireth's striking collection of
essays on the writers, and their writing, that have enriched his own life. The
works of Franz Kafka, Marina Tsvetaeva, Mikhail Bulgakov, Paul Celan, Hiromi
Ito, Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza and others ignite in him the urge to
travel (both physically and in spirit), almost like a pilgrim, to the places
where such writers were born or died or wrote. In each essay a new emotional
plane is reached revealing enticing connections. As a novelist, poet, essayist
and translator born into a multilingual environment, Jaireth truly
understands the power of words across languages and their integral connections
to life of the body and the spirit. Drawing on years of research, translation
and travel Spinoza's Overcoat – and its illuminations of loss,
mortality and the reverie of writing – will linger with readers.
‘Eloquent and original, Jaireth’s meditations
on the lives-of-poets are full of astonishing details, tender connections and
the magnificent melancholy of devotion to words. Encompassing matters of
translation, love, mortality and homage, this is a rare model of what might be
called “literary philosophy” and an utter joy and surprise for anyone
interested in the reading and writing life …’ – GAIL JONES, author of The Death of Noah Glass
Subhash Jaireth was born in India. Between 1969 and 1978 he spent nine
years in Russia studying geology and Russian literature. In 1986 he migrated to
Australia. He has published writing in Hindi, English and Russian and his novel
After Love (Transit Lounge 2012) was
published in Spain in 2018.
