The Bastard Factory: Chris Kraus - Softcover

Kraus, Chris

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1509879099 ISBN 13: 9781509879090

Publisher: Picador, 2022

Synopsis

Chris Kraus’ The Bastard Factory tells the story of an entire epoch: a drama of betrayal and self-delusion spanning the years 1905 to 1975, taking us from Riga to Moscow, Berlin and Munich all the way to Tel Aviv.

Hubert and Konstantin Solm are brothers, born in Riga at the beginning of the twentieth century, they will find themselves – along with their Jewish adopted sister, Ev Solm – caught up in in the maelstrom of their changing times.

As the two brothers climb the rungs of society – working first for the government in Nazi Germany, then as agents for the Allied Forces, and eventually becoming spies for the young West Germany – Ev will be their constant companion, and eventually a lover to them both. The passionate love triangle that emerges will propel the characters to terrifying moral and political depths.

The story of the Solms is also the story of twentieth-century Germany: the decline of an old world and the rise of a new one – under new auspices but with the same familiar protagonists.

Translated from the German by Ruth Martin

About this title

About the Authors

Chris Kraus, born in Gottingen in 1963, is an award-winning director, screenwriter and novelist. He lives in Berlin.

Ruth Martin studied English literature before gaining a PhD in German. She has been translating fiction and non-fiction since 2010, by authors ranging from Joseph Roth and Hannah Arendt to Nino Haratischwili and Volker Weidermann. Ruth has taught translation to undergraduates at Birkbeck and the University of Kent, and was a tutor at the 2021 Bristol Translates summer school. She is also a former co-chair of the Society of Authors Translators Association.

From the Back Cover

Chris Kraus’ The Bastard Factory tells the story of an entire epoch: a drama of betrayal and self-delusion spanning the years 1905 to 1975, taking us from Riga to Moscow, Berlin and Munich all the way to Tel Aviv.

Hubert and Konstantin Solm are brothers, born in Riga at the beginning of the twentieth century. They will find themselves – along with their Jewish adopted sister, Ev Solm – caught up in in the maelstrom of their changing times.

As the two brothers climb the rungs of society – working first for the government in Nazi Germany, then as agents for the Allied Forces, and eventually becoming spies for the young West Germany – Ev will be their constant companion, and eventually a lover to them both. The passionate love triangle that emerges will propel the characters to terrifying moral and political depths.

The story of the Solms is also the story of twentieth-century Germany: the decline of an old world and the rise of a new one – under new auspices but with the same familiar protagonists.

Edition details

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1509879099
• ISBN 13: 9781509879090
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 736