The Radetzky March

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Description

'One of the greatest novels ever written' - Philippe Sands

Set during the doomed splendour of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, The Radetzky March tells the story of the celebrated Trotta family, tracing their rise and fall over three generations. Theirs is a sweeping history of heroism and duty, desire and compromise, tragedy and heartbreak, a story that lasts until the darkening eve of WWI, when all is set to fall apart.

A rich and luminous masterpiece, moving, compassionate, witty and dramatic, The Radetzky March is one of the great reading pleasures of 20th-century literature.

Reviews

One of the greatest novels ever written, Joseph Roth tells us who we are, and what we might yet become. Timeless, humane, tragic -- Philippe Sands
For sheer, epic sweep, I love reading The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth, set in imperial Vienna. I can't recommend it highly enough -- Jeremy Paxman
Timeless... I re-read this book every two or three years, captivated anew by its low-key melancholia and its wry take on the human predicament -- William Boyd * Mail on Sunday *
He saw, he listened, he understood. The Radetzky March is a dark, disturbing novel of eccentric beauty... If you have yet to experience Roth, begin here, and then read everything * Irish Times *
Roth weds epic sweep and scope to irony, pathos and keen wit, sustained across glorious set-pieces... Michael Hofmann's dazzling translations have secured a place for Roth, that peerless celebrant and satirist of the dying Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the affections of an army of Anglophone readers -- Boyd Tonkin * Independent *
A heartfelt evocation of an Empire in which he discernedvirtues that outweighed all the burdens of a mindless officialdom... Roth's masterpiece is of such enormous relevance to our times that we must be grateful that it has found in Michael Hofmann, a translator who does justice to its understated grief * The Times *
One of the great novels of the last century. Its theme, beautifully articulated, is the end of an era. Roth's anthem for a vanished world has the intense, fleeting beauty of a sunset * Sunday Telegraph *
Michael Hofmann has rendered us a service by bringing us a fresh and lively translation of a 20th Century masterpiece * Telegraph *
Over recent years, the poet Michael Hofmann's glittering translations of Joseph Roth have single-handedly given a vanished voice fresh resonance in the English-speaking world. Now Hofmann has surpassed himself with the jewel in Roth's crown. The Radetzky March [is] a majestically assured and engaging novel. * Independent *
A great, wise, droll, novel -- William Boyd * The Week *
Remarkable... Elegantly told and rich in social history * London Magazine *

Author Bio

JOSEPH ROTH (1894-1939) was a prolific journalist and novelist. One of the greatest writers of the 20th Century, his work traces the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the rising fascist threat in Europe. On Hitler's assumption of power, he was obliged to leave Germany for Paris, where he died in poverty a few years later. His books include What I Saw, Job, The White Cities, The String of Pearls and The Radetzky March, all published by Granta Books.

MICHAEL HOFMANN is the highly acclaimed translator of Joseph Roth, Franz Kafka, Hans Fallada, Bertolt Brecht, and many more. A poet and essayist, he also teaches at the University of Florida.