Mr. Hofmann’s bold translation is the carefully wrought work of a poet in full sympathy with his subject and his subject matter, in all its rootlessness, melancholy, and iconic brevity.—The Economist
Joseph Roth (1894-1939), was the great elegist of the cosmopolitan, tolerant, and doomed culture that flourished in the dying days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Born into a Jewish family in Galcia, on the eastern edge of the empire, he was a prolific political journalist and novelist. On Hitler’s assumption of power, he was obliged to leave Germany, and Roth died in poverty in Paris.
Translated from the German by Richard Panchyk
Translated by Michael Hofmann
Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann
Translated from the German by Michael Hofmann
Joseph Roth has emerged as one of the greatest, certainly the most prescient, of the German writers of the entre-deux-gurres'.—TLS
Roth’s journalism creates a vivid sense of a continent on the brink of change.—Independent On Sunday
There are so many fantastic scenes, indelible characters and exquisite lines to marvel at…Dazzling, elegiac, mordant and harrowingly oracular.—George Prochnik, New York Times
This wonderful selection of journalism from the Weimar years, a period Roth spent in Paris, Germany and on the road, displays genius from every angle, as a rebel, a loyalist and a man of compassion.—Jan Morris, Daily Telegraph
A hugely significant and wonderfully haunting collection of Joseph Roth’s journalism from the 1920s and ’30s. Superbly translated by Michael Hofmann.—William Boyd
His was a voice of uncowed conscience and irrepressible humanism, his body of work a damning j’accuse against the folly of the age. The dispatches in The Hotel Years constitute a compelling vindication of his claims for the feuilleton’s literary possibilities.—Houman Barekat, Los Angeles Review of Books
Roth’s hotel years came to an abrupt end in the Old World. Thankfully, his account of them, and of the turbulent cross-currents of his age, live on in exquisite collections such as this one.—Malcolm Forbes, The American Interest
The Hotel Years is a master class in journalism, and a reminder that when a writer can play multiple small notes, he creates a full composition that carries the depth of meaning.—Juan Vidal, NPR Books
Dazzling, elegiac, mordant and harrowingly oracular by turn.—George Prochnik, New York Times Book Review
Roth was as equally magisterial and entertaining in his journalism as he was in his novels, and Michael Hofmann’s new selection of Roth’s nonfiction, his fourteenth translation of Roth’s overall, is thoroughly addictive.—André Naffis-Sahely, Paris Review
So consistently incisive that we devour the lot, compulsively, from cover to cover.—Amanda Hopkinson, The Independent
A novel of great sensitivity and resonance. The Hundred Days is a meditation on the nature of greatness and love’s dogged loyalty, interwoven with the well-balanced irony that is Roth’s trademark. It’s a sad little gem.—Boston Review
A singular achievement of both journalism and literature.—Thane Rosenbaum, The Washington Post Book World
Roth captures and encapsulates Europe in those uncertain hours before the upheaval of a continent and the annihilation of a civilization.—Cynthia Ozick
Nonstop brilliance, irresistible charm and continuing relevance.—Jeffrey Eugenides, The New York Times Book Review
There is a poem on every page of Joseph Roth.—Joseph Brodsky
The totality of Joseph Roth’s work is no less than a tragédie humaine achieved in the techniques of modern fiction.—Nadine Gordimer
Mr. Hofmann’s bold translation is the carefully wrought work of a poet in full sympathy with his subject and his subject matter, in all its rootlessness, melancholy, and iconic brevity.—The Economist
His books possess an eerie clairvoyant feel, shattering in their simplicity, exalting in their moral philosophical weight.—Los Angeles Times
