New translations of the six greatest short stories by Joseph Roth,
collected in a beautiful edition
Joseph Roth's sensibility--both clear-eyed and nostalgic, harshly
realistic and tenderly humane--produced some of the most distinctive
fiction of the twentieth century. This collection of his most essential
stories, in exquisite new translations by Ruth Martin, showcases the
astonishing range and power of his short stories and novellas.
In prose of aching beauty and precision, Roth shows us isolated souls
pursuing lost ideals and impossible desires. Forced to remove a bust of
the fallen Austrian emperor from his house, an eccentric old count holds
a funeral for it and intends to be buried in the same plot himself; a
humble coral merchant, dissatisfied with his life and longing for the
sea, chooses to adulterate his wares with false coral, with catastrophic
results; young Fini, just entering the haze of early sexuality, falls
into an unsatisfying relationship with an older musician. With the
greatest craft and sensitivity, Roth unfolds the many fragilities of the
human heart.