Seiobo There Below () is a 2008 novel by the Hungarian writer László Krasznahorkai. It has an episodic narrative which focuses on artists of different times and places, some of which are historical people and some of which are fictional. A thematic link between the episodes can be seen in the Japanese goddess Seiobo who appears in one of the chapters of the novel. The 17 chapters are numbered according to the Fibonacci sequence, beginning with 1 and ending with 2584.
The English translation by Ottilie Mulzet received the Best Translated Book Award in 2014.
Synopsis
1. Kamo-Hunter An Ooshirosagi stands motionless in the Kamo River waiting to spear its fish. Its intense beauty goes unnoticed, but if it were to be seen at the moment of striking, it could change the life of the witness. The chapter moves between the heron and meditation on the larger city of Kyoto itself, and its unnoticed beauties.
2. The Exiled Queen This chapter is a telling of the story of Vashti, the commission and painting of a set of wedding trunks by Filippino Lippi that include Queen Vashti Leaves the Royal Palace (1480), and the history of the trunks since then. The Queen's beauty is so coveted and awesome that she is able to break from many queenly traditions, but ultimately her disobedience as a woman leads to her exile. Filippino is a precocious young painter who impresses the Jewish family commissioning the wedding trunks depicting the story of the Book of Esther. Between the two trunks, he paints five out of the six in the style of the workshop's master Sandro Botticelli. The last panel, he paints Queen Vashti Leaves the Royal Palace, which leaves Botticelli speechless, in awe of its matchless beauty. In the proceeding centuries the painting is alternately attributed to Botticelli or Lippi. The trunks are dismembered, with panels spread across many collections and museums. Scholars argue over the sourcing and authorship of the paintings, with little consideration to their beauty.
3. The Preservation of a Buddha In Inazawa, the Amida Buddha of the temple Zengen-ji needs restoration. The 14th century wooden statue, famous for its half-lidded eyes, has worn over the centuries, so the abbot decides it finally must be attended to. The removal ritual is performed in secret by four monks while the rest of the monastery is eating, away from the hondō, where they can no longer try to eavesdrop on the Hakken Kuyo ritual. The Buddha is crated and delivered to Bujutsu-in, a conservation workshop run by Fujimori Seiichi. Though of great interest to the conservators, the statue remains untouched in the workshop before it is unpacked and documented fastidiously in the Blue Dossier by Fujimori. The statue is disassembled and cleaned, first with sanitizing gas, then by the restorative techniques of the various technicians. It is a delicate process to deal with valuable and significant art. Fujimori assures the conservators that, though the work is in pieces, its whole is not in pieces, for the famous half-lidded eyes reside in their soul, and should they do their duty, the Zengen-ji Amida will be whole again. The restoration of the eyes falls on the youngest employee, Koinomi Shunzo, who is hounded at all times by Master Fujimori. When Koinomi says the eyes are complete, a stunned Fujimori agrees, and the work on the rest of the pieces quickens. Finally, the Zengen-ji Amida is reassembled and whole again, and the beauty and power of the statue and its famous half-lidded eyes are unlike anything the workshop has ever experienced, bowing even Master Fujimori.
The return and unveiling of the statue to the monastery mirrors its preservation. The abbot has been hard at work preparing the monks for the public ritual of the return of the Buddha to the monastery, the kaigen shiki. The entire monastery being cleaned, the Buddha, still shrouded, returns by truck. Accordingly, the public amasses to participate in the kaigen shiki, led by the abbot of Zengen-ji and two visiting abbots. The ritual involves cleansing incense, chanting, music and prayer. The repetitions of the ritual build, bringing everyone to the heights of anticipation for the revealing of the Buddha. The crowd is instructed to bring their own Buddhas into their hearts, and here even nonbelievers feel a shift in the room, as something more is now present. At the culmination of the ritual, after hours of standing, kneeling, chanting, and praying, the Amida Buddha is revealed to the utter joy of those in participation. Though its beauty is undeniable, the ritual continues, and the abbot of Zengen-ji is fixated on the mistakes the monks make in their performance of the kaigen shiki. Finally, with the crowd dispersed, the abbot is walking alone when he feels a tired calm wash over him, and is propelled to the hondō. Here he sits on the step, doing nothing, watching an ant crawl.
5. Cristo Morto An unnamed Eastern European is walking through Venice on his way to Scuola Grande di San Rocco wearing a pair of black shoes outfitted with loud heel taps when he notices that a slim, S-shaped man in a pink shirt may be following him. Increasingly alarmed, he eventually finds a seat in the sun in front of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. The pink-shirted man stops for a drink across the plaza and reads a newspaper with a headline that says "HELL REALLY EXISTS." Standing in front of the S. Rocco, the scene shifts.
There is an unnamed painting of Christ with unclear authorship. There was debate over the past century, but ultimately consensus comes to Giovanni Bellini as the artist. The painting, which had been stolen for a period and restored with lacquer by an amateur, was restored to full glory by a Mr. Arlango, who, during the course of restoration, discovered a hidden authorship mark by Vittore Belliniano (aka Matteo di Vittore), a Bellini apprentice. Dr. Chiari, the art historian responsible for the painting, declares that Belliniano discovered a canvas by his master with Christ's painted face, but finished it and left it unmarked so as to pass off as a Bellini. Cleaned and restored, Dr. Chiari moves the painting to a new, more prominent position. However, the discovery of the painter goes unremarked by the art history community.
Eleven years before the man walks through Venice with his heel taps, he is visiting Venice the first time. He convinces his group to head towards the S. Rocco so he can see the massive paintings by Tintoretto. He is unimpressed until he stumbles on the staircase and the Albergo where the most famous paintings, including The Crucifixion, reside. Dizzied by the intense beauty, he sits in a folding chair to regain his composure. A security guard confronts him and shadows him for the rest of the visit, ignored by the man. In the corner of the Albergo, he sees a small painting of Dead Christ. He is completely absorbed in the painting, particularly with His eyes. They appear to be flickering or moving, trying to open. Eventually it becomes too overwhelming, and the man flees the S. Rocco.
It is this painting he is returning to, eleven years later, with his heel taps. When he works up the nerve to enter, he can't seem to find the painting. In the room where it was housed is a large collection of Renaissance chairs, one of which is occupied by a security guard reading a book. The guard barely acknowledges the man or his broken Italian question about where the painting has gone. In the next room, however, the man sees the painting behind a marble banister. Again he becomes absorbed in the painting, and takes a seat to compose himself. This time the security guard does not budge from his spot. Finally, the man is able to look at the painting's eyes, which begin to move again. Now restored and free of lacquer, they open slowly and communicate an infinite sorrow for the world, which the man recognizes as unaffecting the apathetic crowds outside. Though he does leave Venice to return home, in some sense he will never return to a time or place before the room and the painting.
8. Up on the Acropolis A Hungarian man had had enough of his normal life, so he went to Athens to settle down as a sort of farewell. After the crush of the airport and price gouging taxi drivers, he arrives at the intersection where he was to meet acquaintances, who did not show up. He argues with the taxi driver, but a group of youths intervene. Embarrassed, he darts across the intersection, but then realizing that he is at a loss, he returns to where his new friends sit drinking. They try to convince him to sit and drink with them, but he demurs, saying he at least needs to see the Acropolis. They warn against it, but he sets off to struggle in the heat. Exhausted, he reaches the Acropolis, begins the ascent, but realizes he is ill-equipped to handle the overbearing heat. He begins to go blind from the glare of the sun off the white limestone surface. There is no relief anywhere from the light, and he brought no water or shade. Feet blistered and bloodied, eyes burning, he returns to his friends. Across the intersection, he sees them drinking, and realizes how foolish it was to desire anything. He plays out their coming interaction in his head, and envisions himself sitting, drinking, and watching with them, desiring nothing. He is killed by a truck while crossing the street.
13. He Rises at Dawn The process of Ito Ryōsuke, a master mask maker, is described. He lives his entire life in near-silence, almost always alone. He rises every day in the early morning to work until the evening on his masks, broken only by a half hour lunch. Making a hannya mask takes him a month and a half. While he works, he is entirely free of thought; he does not concern himself with the larger questions that his occasional students ask. He views these masks worn for the Noh play Aoi no Ue as wooden objects to be perfected, not by chance, but by practice and experience. During their creation, he utilizes an elaborate series of mirrors to view them and discover their flaws. Each mask is made using the same stencils, though after a point, the stencils are just approximation, and craftsmanship must finish the hannya mask. After carving the mask to satisfaction, he must begin gilding and Copper electroplating, which he then paints, and creates a custom silk bag. The larger thing he does not realize is that he is not creating a painted and carved piece of wood, he is creating a demon.
21. A Murderer Is Born