The Pilgrim Kamanita

Karl Gjellerup · 1857–1919 · Denmark

Originally Der Pilger Kamanita (German)

Why it matters

A merchant's son shares a night's shelter with a monk he never recognizes as the Buddha, then pursues his lost beloved across celestial rebirths. A Danish Nobelist's strange, serene Buddhist romance: European fiction's most earnest early journey east.

At a glance

Serene, ornate telling built on Buddhist cosmology that rewards but doesn't require prior knowledge.