Bardo or Not Bardo

Winner of the inaugural 2017 Albertine Prize

"Irreducible to any single literary genre, the Volodinian cosmos is skillfully crafted, fusing elements of science fiction with magical realism & political commentary."—Nicholas Hauck, Music & Literature

One of Volodine's funniest books, Bardo or Not Bardo takes place in his universe of failed revolutions, radical shamanism, & off-kilter nomenclature.

In each of these seven vignettes, someone dies and has to make his way through the Tibetan afterlife, also known as the Bardo. In the Bardo, souls wander for forty-nine days before being reborn, helped along on their journey by the teachings of the Book of the Dead.

Unfortunately, Volodine's characters bungle their chances at enlightenment, with the recently dead choosing to waste away their afterlife sleeping, or choosing to be reborn as an insignificant spider. The still-living aren't much better off, making a mess of things in their own ways, such as erroneously reciting a...

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Bardo or Not Bardo consists of seven vignettes set in a universe of failed revolutions, radical shamanism, & off-kilter nomenclature. In each tale, a newly dead character bungles his way through the Tibetan afterlife, or Bardo, failing to achieve enlightenment, while the living make a similar mess of things. The book is considered one of the funniest installments in Volodine’s acclaimed post-apocalyptic series, which has been hailed as one of the most inventive, ambitious projects of contemporary writing. Antoine Volodine is actually the pen name of a writer who published more than forty books under four different pseudonyms, four different identities who belong to the same literary movement he created: post-exoticism. Many of his books are set in a post-apocalyptic world where members of a “post-exoticism” writing movement have all been arrested as subversives. — Villa Albertine