Weights and Measures (Everyman's Classics S.) - Softcover

Roth, Joseph

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0460013319 ISBN 13: 9780460013314

Publisher: Littlehampton Book Services Ltd, 1983

Synopsis

Set in Roth's native Galicia, is one of his finest and most artistically satisfying novels. The exploration of evil, justice and suffering which forms the underlying theme, is a recurrent one in Roth's writing, and with his central character, Anselm Eibenschutz, the just Inspector at odds with himself and a hostile world that will ultimately destroy him, Roth has created one of his most convincing and deeply felt figures. 'Joseph Roth was one of the really great writers of our day; his German prose has always been a model of perfect style. He wrote every page of his books with the fervor of a true poet; like a goldsmith he polished and repolished every sentence till the rhythm was perfect and the colour brilliant. His artistic conscience was as inexorable as his heart was passionate and tender.' So wrote Stefan Zweig shortly after Roth's premature death in 1939. Since that time his reputation has grown steadily, and he now stands among the great prose writers in the German language. First published in 1937 translated by David Le Vay. Introduction by Beatrice Musgrave.

About this title

Review

'This small novel is a masterpiece.' - Angela Huth, Listener; 'Weights and Measures gave me the purest reading pleasure... A haunting little book, touched by genius.' - Robert Nye, Guardian; 'A masterly performance.' - Paul Bailey, Evening Standard; 'An absorbing fable, dark, beautifully written and with a physical immediacy in the prose... I want to read more.' - New Statesman; 'Written with the melancholy wit and grace of Gogol... passages of electrifying beauty.' - The Times

About the Author

Joseph Roth has never been more popular. In this late novel - widely praised and rarely available in English - an artillery officer is persuaded by his resentful wife to leave the Austro-Hungarian army to take up a civilian post as Inspector of Weights and Measures in a remote territory near the Russian border. Attempting to exercise some proper rectitude in his trade duties he is soon at a loss in a shadowy world of smugglers, profiteers and petty crooks. Joseph Roth is an important commentator on the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire; Weights and Measures registers on both an historical and personal level to portray the slow capitulation of a good man and his traditional standards to insidious small-time corruption and to his own destructive passion.

Edition details

• Publisher: Littlehampton Book Services Ltd
• Publication date: 1983
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0460013319
• ISBN 13: 9780460013314
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 157