The Wall Jumper: xiii (Penguin Modern Classics) - Softcover

Schneider, Peter

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141187980 ISBN 13: 9780141187983

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 2005

Synopsis

Berlin before the fall of the Wall is a city divided, yet its ordinary residents find ways to live and survive on both sides. There is Robert, teller of barroom anecdotes over beer and vodka, adjusting to a new life in the west; Pommerer, trying to outwit the system in the east; the unnamed narrator, who 'escapes' back-and-forth to collect stories; his beguiling, exiled lover Lena; the three boys who defect to watch Hollywood films; and the man who leaps across the Wall again and again - simply because he cannot help himself.

All are, in their different ways, wall jumpers, trying to lose themselves but still trapped wherever they go. Ultimately, the walls inside their heads prove to be more powerful than any man-made barrier ...

About this title

Review:

"Schneider's description of the Berlin Wall from both sides . . . is the ultimate depiction of this structure. Nothing more need be said."--Werner Herzog

"An honest, rich book. . . . It is one those rare books that come back at odd moments to intrude on your comfortable conclusions and easy images."--Robert Houston "Nation "

"Marvelous . . . creates, in very few words, the unreal reality of Berlin."--Salman Rushdie "New York Times Book Review "

An honest, rich book. . . . It is one those rare books that come back at odd moments to intrude on your comfortable conclusions and easy images. --Robert Houston "Nation ""

Marvelous . . . creates, in very few words, the unreal reality of Berlin. --Salman Rushdie "New York Times Book Review ""

Schneider s description of the Berlin Wall from both sides . . . is the ultimate depiction of this structure. Nothing more need be said. --Werner Herzog"

About the Author:

Peter Schneider was born in Luebeck, Germany, in 1940. He is the author of more than 20 books, including novels, short stories and collections of essays, and his writings have been translated into more than 20 languages. Among those in English are The Wall Jumper (1983), Couplings (1996) and his most recent novel, Eduard's Homecoming (2000). As a journalist, he has contributed to Der Spiegel, The New York Times, Time and Le Monde among many others. He has also written several screenplays. He lives in Washington, D.C., where he is Roth Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at Georgetown University.

Ian McEwan has written two collections of stories, First Love, Last Rites and In Between the Sheets, and ten novels, The Cement Garden, The Comfort of Strangers, The Child in Time, The Innocent, Black Dogs, The Daydreamer, Enduring Love, Amsterdam, Atonement and Saturday. He won the Booker Prize for Amsterdam in 1998.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0141187980
• ISBN 13: 9780141187983
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128