Visions and Temptations

By: Harald Voetmann

Published by New Directions Publishing Corporation, 2025

"Spurning carnal desire and earthly temptations all his life, the mystic Othlo is now in the care of his brother monks, including the odious Wolkbart. Despite the spare walls which surround his sickbed, Othlo frolics with Holy Dionysius in the Garden of Head-bearers (each carries his own head for eternity), de- scends from the island of Heaven, visits a brothel patronized by fallen angels who spawn nightmarish offspring eternally, and witnesses the souls of the once gluttonous wealthy fighting over scraps of rotting crabmeat in a ditch in Hell. Accompanied by a sinister guide and a three-hoofed lamb, our hero sees things that make a Bosch hellscape look like a rose garden. The third and final book in a series about mankind's desire to conquer nature, Visions and Temptations follows Awake and Sublunar. In each novel, a great if imperfect mind faces the inevitable demise of the body"-- Provided by publisher.