MOSS

An aging botanist of international renown retreats to his family home in the German countryside to write one last book critiquing the methods of modern botany. As he progresses in writing, he realizes that his scientific work of cataloging and classifying the flora of the whole world has actually kept him away from nature, its vitality and its fundamental essence. And as his physical strength declines, his face gradually invaded by a green and mysterious moss, he remembers the compulsive need his father had to prune the vegetation and push back ever further the natural advance of the forest on the boundaries of their property. He also remembers, between writing and walks, how he fled with his family from nascent fascism, or even his first love affairs. Klaus Modick immerses us in the thoughts of a man who reexamines his life and accesses a new, deeper understanding of love, death and the natural world. It also offers a philosophical reflection on language and how it can keep us away from the living heart of what it designates. Mousse finally explores our most fundamental needs for transcendence and connection to the world, and delivers a moving testament to our intimate relationship with nature. Translated from German by Marie Hermann A masterful eco-fiction that explores the intimate bond that unites human beings with nature.