W.: A Novel

(Hardback)

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The novel W. is a literary prequel to one of modern literature's touchstone texts, the play Woyzeck-the basis of films, operas, and numerous translations and adaptations. Considered the first modern drama, Woyzeck tells the story of a loyal foot soldier who, in a fit of jealous rage, kills the woman he loves. In 1836 this true story inspired Georg Buechner to write the play, unfinished at his death at just 23 years old. W., the astonishing new novel by August Prize-winning author Steve Sem-Sandberg, grippingly recounts the lovers' relationship, the murder case, and the solder's execution, while digging deeper into the world and motivations of the characters.

Taking this classic and enduring work as his starting point, in poetic and controlled prose, Sem-Sandberg reveals a ruthless, moving, and unforgettable story of human vulnerability and the abyss that Buechner felt was a part of every person. Larger forces such as the horrors of war and the dehumanizing nature of psychiatry collide with the soldier's own small world, and love devolves into hatred as Woyzeck desperately and humanly struggles to make something of the life given to him.

Reviews

Its the collaboration and tension between the reader and Woyzeck, rather than the attempts to find more profound motives, that makes this reading experience so strong. * Svenska Dagbladet *
A sharp and hypersensitive novel about abandonment and violence. Its a fantastic, spellbinding, and terrifying book. * Dagens Nyheter *
This is fiction of true moral force, brilliantly sustained and achieved. -- Hilary Mantel * (on The Emperor of Lies) *
Cogent and affecting . . . In Mr. Sem-Sandbergs fine novel, the tragedy is real but much more specific and conditional. It gives us, the readers, just enough of a loophole to evade its reckonings. * Wall Street Journal *

Author Bio

Steve Sem-Sandbergs novels include The Emperor of Lies, winner of the August Prize; The Chosen Ones, winner of Frances Prix Mdicis tranger; and W., which was awarded the Eyvind Johnson Prize. His books have been bestsellers around the world and have been translated into 30 languages. In 2020 he was elected to the Swedish Academy, the body that chooses the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Saskia Vogel is an author and translator from Los Angeles, currently living in Berlin. She was a 2021 PEN Translation Prize finalist and Princeton Universitys Fall 2022 Translator in Residence. Her debut novel, Permission, was published in five languages, and she was awarded the 2021 Berlin Senate Grant for Non-German Language Literature for her writing.