A
Flavour of the Book: “One man went crazy. He
grabbed a pistol and started shooting.
He wounded two people before someone shot him. And do you know what we did after that? I still get shivers thinking about it. We threw him on the fire as a substitute for coal…”
The
Authortrek View: This is a brilliant novel concerning the last days of Walter
Benjamin’s life. Benjamin is mainly
known for his brilliant essay The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical
Reproduction. However, it seems at first that Bruno Arpaia has too much
reverence for his subject, for when he first writes about Benjamin, it’s from a
distance, and these passages seem to be much more biography than fiction. What helps the narrative move along at a
clipping pace in this first part is the thrilling and turbulent story of the
Spanish militant Laureano Mahojo. The title is very apt, referring to the Paul
Klee painting that Benjamin owned, Angelus Novus. There are also
a number of cameos from some of Benjamin’s famous literary colleagues, such as
Theodor Adorno, Hannah Arendt, and Gershom Scholem. However, you can’t really
go wrong with the fascinating story of Walter Benjamin’s last days as he fled
from the Nazis, and the mystery concerning his last manuscript... It does take a while, but Bruno Arpaia does
finally walk around in Benjamin’s shoes, and to glorious effect.
Press
Reviews:
“this is better history than fiction.
The research rings true - (a) frightening evocation of what it’s like for
individuals each with private ambition that never included bearing witness to
worldwide catastrophe, to be swept in a historical maelstrom” - Lionel Shriver,
Daily Telegraph
“a gripping,
beautifully detailed novel about a continent in flux during World War 2” -
Claire Allfree, Metro
“the
writing shimmers on the page with memorable images” - Jay Parini, Guardian
“Arpaia
has created a fiction that is supremely readable as both a wartime fable and an
intense reflection on modern history” - Scotland on Sunday
To
find out more about the author, please visit our Bruno Arpaia page.
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