Kirjahaku

A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER "A jewel of a rediscovery . . . . A riveting, noirish, intensely filmic portrait of an ambivalent fugitive, cornered but not captured, safest when in motion, at greatest risk when forced to rest."--The Wall Street Journal Berlin, November 1938. Jewish shops have been ransacked and looted, synagogues destroyed. As storm troopers pound on his door, Otto Silbermann, a respected businessman, is forced to sneak out the back of his own home. Turned away from establishments he had long patronized, and fearful of being exposed as a Jew despite his Aryan looks, he boards a train. And then another. And another . . . until his flight becomes a frantic odyssey across Germany, as he searches first for information, then for help, and finally for escape. Taut, immediate, infused with acerbic Kafkaesque humor, The Passenger is an indelible portrait of a man and a society careening out of control. Twenty-three-year-old Ulrich Boschwitz wrote The Passenger at breakneck speed in 1938, fresh in the wake of the Kristallnacht pogroms, and his prose flies at the same pace. Long considered lost, the original manuscript was only recently discovered in the German archives and has now been published throughout the world and universally hailed as a masterpiece.

A prophetic lost classic from interwar Germany, now translated into English for the first time, following a group of Berliners on the skids as their nation unravels. Berlin in the 1920s is the largest city in Europe, a cultural mecca, and a political mess: a hedonistic Babylon, though there's little glamour for the hundreds of thousands out of work, the war wounded, the prostitutes, and the beggars. Come evening, they too want to shed their cares at the Jolly Huntsman pub, where they gather to drink, dance, and reassert their pride. But there's always disaster lurking in the alleys and flophouses, a disaster that the twenty-two-year-old author Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz clearly saw coming for his nation. In this dark comedy of petty theft, soapbox speeches, and bar fights is the disarray of a country devouring itself. Tragically, Germany's self-destruction engulfed the author, who was killed five years after finishing this novel. When Boschwitz's The Passenger was rediscovered in 2021, it was heralded as a masterpiece that terrifyingly captured the zeitgeist of life under Nazism. Now, Berlin Shuffle--his literary debut from 1937, finally available in English, with a preface by the preeminent translator Philip Boehm--brings to life the society that would enable fascism's takeover. The triumph of one of world literature's spectacular talents, Berlin Shuffle is a dire warning, sent from a pivotal moment in history to our own time.

Berlin, November 1938. With storm troopers battering against his door, Otto Silberman must flee out the back of his own home. He emerges onto streets thrumming with violence: it is Kristallnacht, and synagogues are being burnt, Jews rounded up and their businesses destroyed. Turned away from establishments he had long patronised, betrayed by friends and colleagues, Otto finds his life as a respected businessman has dissolved overnight. Desperately trying to conceal his Jewish identity, he takes train after train across Germany in a race to escape this homeland that is no longer home. Twenty-three-year-old Ulrich Boschwitz wrote The Passenger at breakneck speed in 1938, fresh in the wake of the Kristallnacht pogroms, and his prose flies at the same pace. Shot through with Hitchcockian tension, The Passenger is a blisteringly immediate story of flight and survival in Nazi Germany.

BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1938. With storm troopers battering against his door, Otto Silbermann must flee out the back of his own home. He emerges onto streets thrumming with violence: it is Kristallnacht, and synagogues are being burnt, Jews rounded up and their businesses destroyed. Turned away from establishments he had long patronised, betrayed by friends and colleagues, Otto finds his life as a respected businessman has dissolved overnight. Desperately trying to conceal his Jewish identity, he takes train after train across Germany in a race to escape this homeland that is no longer home. Twenty-three-year-old Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz wrote The Passenger at breakneck speed in 1938, fresh in the wake of the Kristallnacht pogroms, and his prose flies at the same pace. Shot through with Hitckcockian tension, The Passenger is a blisteringly immediate story of flight and survival in Nazi Germany.

'Gripping' - Telegraph 'Brilliant' - Sunday Times 'Riveting' - Guardian The devastating rediscovered classic written from the horrors of Nazi Germany, as one Jewish man attempts to flee persecution in the wake of Kristallnacht BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1938. With storm troopers battering against his door, Otto Silbermann must flee out the back of his own home. He emerges onto streets thrumming with violence: it is Kristallnacht, and synagogues are being burnt, Jews rounded up and their businesses destroyed. Turned away from establishments he had long patronised, betrayed by friends and colleagues, Otto finds his life as a respected businessman has dissolved overnight. Desperately trying to conceal his Jewish identity, he takes train after train across Germany in a race to escape this homeland that is no longer home. Twenty-three-year-old Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz wrote The Passenger at breakneck speed in 1938, fresh in the wake of the Kristallnacht pogroms, and his prose flies at the same pace. Shot through with Hitckcockian tension, The Passenger is a blisteringly immediate story of flight and survival in Nazi Germany.

BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1938. Med stormtropper bankende på døra, flykter Otto Silbermann fra hjemmet sitt. Han havner på gaten hvor volden herjer: Krystallnatten er iverksatt, synagoger blir brent, jøder jages og samles, og forretningene deres blir ødelagt. Avvist og forrådt av venner og kolleger, opplever Otto at livet hans som respektert forretningsmann oppløses over natten. På sin desperate ferd gjennom Tyskland må han gjøre alt for å skjule sin jødiske identitet i et kappløp for å unnslippe dette hjemlandet som ikke lenger er et hjem. Tjuetre år gamle Ulrich Boschwitz skrev Den reisende i rasende fart etter krystallnattens grusomheter i 1938. Lenge trodde man at manuskriptet var gått tapt, men det ble nylig gjenfunnet i tyske arkiver og publisert verden over til unison hyllest. En av årets beste bøker: Wall Street Journal, Guardian, Financial Times, Times Literary Supplement og Minneapolis Star Tribune.

På kvällen den 9 november 1938 bankar det på dörren till familjen Silbermanns våning i Berlin. Otto Silbermann räddar sig ut genom bakdörren. Oförmögen att återvända till det hem som vandaliserats av nazisterna vandrar han genom staden. Runt omkring pågår livet som vanligt, samtidigt som han själv i ett slag blivit villebråd. Trots berättelser om bekanta som fängslats eller försvunnit har Silbermann tänkt att förföljelserna inte angår honom. I ett desperat försök att rädda det som räddas kan stiger han på ett tåg. ”Resenären” är en tät och omskakande roman som rör sig allt snabbare mot det oundvikliga slutet. Boschwitz skrev den under tiden omedelbart efter Kristallnatten 1938, och den utgavs på tyska för första gången våren 2018.

Järkyttävä aikalaistodistus Saksan juutalaisvainoista.Kristalliyön jälkeen kirjoitettu kuumeinen romaani pakenevasta miehestä on aikanamme ”uudelleen löydetty jalokivi” (Wall Street Journal).Matkalainen kertoo Otto Silbermannista, berliininjuutalaisesta liikemiehestä, joka menettää vuoden 1938 pogromeissa yrityksensä, kotinsa ja turvallisuudentunteensa. Pian hän huomaa olevansa päättymättömällä pakomatkalla minne vain. Otto yrittää uskoa ihmisoikeuksiin, mutta yksi kerrallaan ne lipeävät hänen ulottumattomiinsa. Kafkamaisen painajaisen yllä leijuva varjo on erityisen hyytävä nykylukijalle, joka tuntee vainon seuraukset.Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz (1915-1942) syntyi Berliinissä ja asui Norjassa, Ranskassa ja Luxemburgissa kunnes asettui Englantiin vuonna 1939. Juutalaisesta syntyperästään huolimatta Boschwitz internoitiin sodan syttyessä vihollisena ja karkotettiin Australiaan. Hän sai luvan palata Englantiin vuonna 1942, mutta saksalaiset torpedoivat laivan ja Boschwitz upposi sen mukana vain 27-vuotiaana. Matkalaisen käsikirjoitus löydettiin 80 vuotta myöhemmin, ja se on sittemmin julkaistu yli 30 kielellä. Isossa-Britanniassa teos oli julkaisuvuonnaan maan luetuimpia käännösromaaneja.”Aavemainen ennustus... Matkalainen syöksee lukijansa lohduttomaan natsi-Saksaan ja aikaan, jona pimeys vasta laskeutui. Teos olisi ansainnut tulla luetuksi omana aikanaan. Se todellakin ansaitsee tulla luetuksi nyt.” – The Guardian”Kylmäävä profetia ja kuvaus elämästä natsihallinnon terrorin alaisena.” – The Telegraph”Naulitseva, noir-henkinen, intensiivisen elokuvallinen muotokuva epäröivästä pakolaisesta.” – Wall Street Journal”Kirjallinen aikakapseli.” – Forward”Epäinhimillistämisen kronikka joka kulkee trillerin nopeudella.” – El País”Mestariteos.” – L'Avvenire”Tärkeä ja vangitseva.” – Dagens Nyheter

A prophetic, darkly comic lost classic about down-and-outs in a fractured Berlin by the author of the Sunday Times bestselling rediscovery The Passenger 'A writer of great insight and talent' FT Berlin, 1920s: a beacon of culture and hedonism, but a political mess. The streets are crowded with war veterans, beggars, prostitutes and madmen, desperately chasing any means to secure a few marks or a roof over their heads. Come nighttime, a rag-tag group descends on the Jolly Huntsman pub to dance and drown their cares in all the schnapps they can afford. But in this society on the brink, pleasure all too easily erupts into violence. A bleakly comic story of struggle and discontent on the fringes of the metropolis, Berlin Shuffle is a blistering portrait of a divided society that would give way to fascism. Written when he was just twenty-two years old, Boschwitz's first novel displays his extraordinary talent for capturing Germany's self-destruction, which would tragically engulf him only five years later.

Berlin, 1920s: a beacon of culture and hedonism, but a political mess. The streets are crowded with war veterans, beggars, prostitutes and madmen, desperately chasing any means to secure a few marks or a roof over their heads. Come nighttime, a rag-tag group descends on the Jolly Huntsman pub to dance and drown their cares in all the schnapps they can afford. But in this society on the brink, pleasure all too easily erupts into violence. A bleakly comic story of struggle and discontent on the fringes of the metropolis, Berlin Shuffle is a blistering portrait of a divided society that would give way to fascism. Written when he was just twenty-two years old, Boschwitz's first novel displays his extraordinary talent for capturing Germany's self-destruction, which would tragically engulf him only five years later.