The Collected Shorter Fiction Of Joseph Roth

(Paperback)

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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.

Reviews

'Roth is one of the great addictive writers of the first half of the 20th century. He is witty, profound, surprising and melancholy. The paradox is this: no-one is fundamentally more pessimistic; no writer is more affirmative' The Scotsman 'The poet Michael Hofmann has performed such an invaluable service that it's a shame that the minting of medals has gone out of fashion.' Evening Standard 'Clearly illustrate the qualities that make his prose so distinctive' The Sunday Telegraph

Author Bio

Joseph Roth's (1894-1939) books include The Legend of the Holy Drinker, The Wandering Jews, The Emperor's Tomb, The String of Pearls and The Radetzky March. Michael Hofmann is a poet. 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.