Hothouse - Softcover

Wolfgang Koeppen

3.43

358 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1862075646 ISBN 13: 9781862075641

Publisher: Granta Books, 2004

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The Hothouse refers to the city of Bonn, with its warm damp climate, but it also refers to the political environment of the temporary capital of divided Germany, where politics in the 1950s was about compromises and half measures. The central character, Keetenheuve, is an idealistic politician-intellectual who has returned from voluntary exile during the Nazi period. Now his idealism becomes a trap for him, as he attempts to break with the past and persuade his colleagues to embrace a radical rejection of militarism. The novel traces the final two days in the life of this depressed, isolated man.

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Review:

‘A mid-20th century masterpiece...’ -- Independent on Sunday Books of the Year

‘A remarkable book’ -- London Review of Books

‘Koeppen’s writing is a revelation, dense with controlled, scathing anger and bitter insights’ -- The Times

‘The Hothouse is an onrush of ideas, observations and aphorisms that are both insightful and inciting’ -- Daily Telegraph

‘...a highly allusive style...reminiscent of earlier modernists such as Joyce or Woolf’ -- The Times Literary Supplement

About the Author:

Wolfgang Koeppen (1906-1996) was a journalist for left-wing papers in Weimar Berlin. He spent the early Nazi period in the Netherlands, returning in the war years to work for the film company that produced Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis'. He published five novels, two in the 1930s and three in the 1950s. Michael Hofmann was awarded the PEN/Book-of-the-month Club Prize for translation.

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