Auron is Jasna Horvat’s conceptual novel about the golden ratio, the proportion associated with harmony in nature, art and architecture. The principle shapes both the book’s subject and its composition, including the relationships between chapters and narrators.
Set chiefly in Osijek and Šibenik, the contemporary story develops around the mysterious disappearance of the halo from the statue of St Mark on the Cathedral of St James in Šibenik and the confession that follows twenty years later. Its interwoven characters bring family, love, work, desire and personal ambition into a plot concerned with the human search for beauty. References to the Baška Tablet, architecture, painting, music and literature widen the narrative into a compact cultural history of the golden ratio.
The active right-hand margin adds a visual layer to the reading experience. Auron combines suspense, Oulipo-inspired formal experiment and reflection while questioning consumer culture, prescribed ideals of the body and the very idea of perfection.