The Death of the Adversary
by:
Hans Keilson (author)
My enemy - I shall refer to him as B. - entered my life about twenty years ago. At that time I had only a very vague idea of what it meant to be someone's enemy; still less did I realise what it was to have an enemy. One has to mature gradually towards one's enemy as towards one's best friend....
show more
My enemy - I shall refer to him as B. - entered my life about twenty years ago. At that time I had only a very vague idea of what it meant to be someone's enemy; still less did I realise what it was to have an enemy. One has to mature gradually towards one's enemy as towards one's best friend. 1930s Germany; the shadow of Nazism looms. Pictures of the new dictator, 'B.', fill magazines and newspapers. Our hero is ten when his world begins to change dramatically. Suddenly, the other children won't let him join in their games. Later, he is refused a job on a shop-floor. Later still, he hears youths boasting of an attack on a Jewish cemetery. Both hypnotised and horrified by his enemy, our hero chronicles the fear, anger and defiance of everyday life under tyranny. Written while Hans Keilson was in hiding during World War II, this novel is a powerful account of what he outlived. Painful, trenchant and streaked with dark humour "The Death of the Adversary" is a rediscovered masterpiece.
show less
Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9780099560623 (0099560623)
Publish date: May 12th 2011
Publisher: Vintage Classics
Pages no: 224
Edition language: English
Category:
Novels,
History,
Literature,
European Literature,
Cultural,
Book Club,
Historical Fiction,
Literary Fiction,
War,
World War II,
German Literature,
Holocaust,
Germany