Product Description

Joseph Roth has always enjoyed critical acclaim in the USA, but his novels were out of print for many years in the UK. In recent years a new generation of readers has discovered this modern master of the laconic, emblematic narrative - an artist responding to the madness of inter-war Europe with an unsentimental humanism. Roth's prose is quick, lucid, and ironic; his fictions read like realist fables. Beneath these polished surfaces darker currents - of violence, hatred, racism and personal loss - cannot be ignored. Granta here presents Roth's collected stories and novellas, in new translations by the poet Michael Hofmann. They include 'Fallermayr the Stationmaster' and 'The Bust of the Emperor', bitter comedies of the last days of the Hapsburgs; 'Strawberries', the story of a small town in Galicia, and many other astonishing shorter fiction.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1494440 in Books
• Published on: 2001-10-16
• Original language: German
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
The major works of Joseph Roth are only now being published by Granta in the UK, in a bid to gain him the international recognition that he deserves. Despite the fact that Roth remains one of the most prolific and influential story-writers of the 20th century, his life and work remain little known outside German-speaking countries. This Collected Shorter Fiction is, therefore, an unexpected treat for those who have never before experienced the sheer poetry and magic of Roth's style. His short stories are time capsules, an evocative and fascinating insight into pre-war German-Jewish life. His characters evoke a different world; the insular politics of small-town living are portrayed memorably, if gloomily, in April, a love story: 'In small towns, there are no chance people abroad on the streets. All are lovers, or prostitutes or night watchmen or poets or lunatics. Chance and indifferent persons are safely at home.' In April, as in most of the stories contained in this volume, there is little plot, but much colour, Roth's speciality: 'A frail coltish gothic spire clambered up into the clouds. The egg-yellow face of the illuminated townhall clock seemed to be suspended in the air on an invisible thread.' As well as being a writer of rare quality, Roth is a brilliant student of character; one's only criticism can be that the stories often end too soon. (Kirkus UK)

Synopsis
Joseph Roth has always enjoyed critical acclaim in the USA, but his novels were out of print for many years in the UK. In recent years a new generation of readers has discovered this modern master of the laconic, emblematic narrative - an artist responding to the madness of inter-war Europe with an unsentimental humanism. Roth's prose is quick, lucid, and ironic; his fictions read like realist fables. Beneath these polished surfaces darker currents - of violence, hatred, racism and personal loss - cannot be ignored. Granta here presents Roth's collected stories and novellas, in new translations by the poet Michael Hofmann. They include 'Fallermayr the Stationmaster' and 'The Bust of the Emperor', bitter comedies of the last days of the Hapsburgs; 'Strawberries', the story of a small town in Galicia, and many other astonishing shorter fiction.

About the Author
Joseph Roth's (1894-1939) books include The Legend of the Holy Drinker, Right and Left, The Emperor's Tomb, The String of Pearls and The Radetzky March. Michael Hofmann is a poet. His most recent collection is Approximately Nowhere. As a translator his work includes Kafka's The Man who Disappeared (Amerika). He has also translated Joseph Roth's The Legend of the Holy Drinker, Right and Left and The String of Pearls.

Customer Reviews

Beautiful alternative to modern fiction
Joseph Roth manages to set the scene, get you to know the characters, scene, time etc in the matter of a few pages without making it obvious. Stories written in this fashion keep you hooked from the first page and don't disappoint in their ending.
"Strawberries" is a fantastic example of one of the longer pieces in this collection (32 pages). A town almost forgotten by the rest of the world, with it's own set of rules accepted by all it's citizens, eccentrically intelligent or otherwise, all in all a beautifully written alternative to modern fiction.