Perlmann's Silence
By (Author) Pascal Mercier
Translated by Shaun Whiteside
Atlantic Books
Atlantic Books
1st October 2012
Main
United Kingdom
General
Fiction
833.914
Long-listed for IMPAC DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD 2013 (UK)
Paperback
624
Width 130mm, Height 200mm, Spine 48mm
570g
In a quiet seaside town near Genoa, experts are gathering for a linguistics conference. One speaker, Philipp Perlmann, recently widowed and, struggling to contend with his grief, is unable to complete his keynote address. As the hour approaches, an increasingly desperate Perlmann decides to plagiarize the work of Leskov, a Russian colleague who cannot attend, and pass it off as his own. But when word reaches Perlmann that Leskov has arrived unexpectedly in Genoa, Perlmann must protect himself from exposure by constructing a maelstrom of lies and deceit, which will lead him to the brink of murder.
Pascal Mercier was born in 1944 in Bern, Switzerland, and currently lives in Berlin, where he is a professor of philosophy.