German glacier expert Zeno Hintermeier is taking his last voyage to the Antarcti
c as a lecturer on board an international cruise ship. He attends to the curiosi
ty of a privileged few as they marvel at the least explored continent and pay wi
tness to its rapid degradation. In his early sixties, Zeno mourns the loss of hi
s beloved glaciers, the disintegration of his loveless marriage, and the crumbli
ng of his increasingly irrelevant career.
Increasingly desperate he hatches a
horrifying plan, and driven to the brink, he is convinced that his only option
is to shake his fellow passengers out of their complacency and send a wake-up ca
ll to the world. With poignant, playful prose, The Lamentations of Zeno is a por
trait of a man in extremis, a haunting tale that looks at the greatest challenge
of our age from a uniquely human angle.
