The Silent Prophet
Page 19
Roth's other works include Rechts und Links (1929), set in Berlin, a disappointment for Nazis and leftists critics, Hiob (1930, Job: The Story of a Simple Man), a modern-day analogy of the biblical story, in which Roth paid his tribute to his Jewish background. Das falsche Gewicht (1937) depicted a weight-and measures inspector in the borderlands of the Tsarist Empire, Die Legende vom heiligen trinker (1939) was an self-ironic examination, in which Andreas the drinker is suddenly charged, by a total stranger, with the task of delivering a large sum of money to the shrine of St. Therese.
In his last novel, Die Geschichte von der 1002. Nacht (1939) Roth examined the theme of self-deception. The Shah-in-Shah, the great ruler and overlord of all the lands of Persia, feels sick and in 1873 decides to visit Vienna, saying that "Muslims have been there once before, many years ago." His Chief Eunuch, Patominos, corrects him: "Sire, they were unfortunately unable to enter the city. Had they done so, St. Stephen's Cathedral would have not a cross, but a crescent moon on top of it!" In the course of the narrative, the principal figures - Baron Taittinger, the brothel keeper Frau Matzner, and the prostitute Mizzi Schinagl - fall victim to the rewards they have reaped the Shah. He has slept with Mizzi and sends her a string of pearls. She ends in prison and Taittinger shoots himself. Juden auf Wanderschaft (1927, The Wandering Jews) was a fragmented account about the Jewish migrations from eastern to western Europe in the aftermath of World War I and the Russian Revolution. In 1937 Roth wrote a new preface for the book, seeing how temporary the period of peace and shelter was.
For further reading: Understanding Joseph Roth by Sidney Rosenfeld (2001); Encyclopedia of World Literature, vol. 3, ed. by Steven R. Serafin (1999); World Authors 1900-1950, ed. by Martin Seymour-Smith and Andrew C. Kimmens (1996); Joseph Roth by Rainer-Joachim Siegel (1995); Joseph Roths Fluch und Ende by Soma Morgenstern (1994); Co-Existent Contradictions, ed. by Helen Chambers (1991); Joseph Roth byWolfgang Müller-Funk (1989); Ambivalence and Irony in the Works of Joseph Roth by C. Mathew (1984); Von der Würde des Unscheinbaren by Esther Steinmann (1984); Joseph Roth und die Tradition, ed. by D. Bronsen (1975); Joseph Roth: Eine Biographie by David Bronsen (1974); Weit von wo by C. Magris (1974); Lontano da dove by Claudio Magris (1971); Joseph Roth: Leben und Werke by H. Linden (1949) –
Key writers of Vienna after WW I: Karl Kraus (1874-1936) wrote a satirical play about the Great War, The Last Days of Mankind, 1922; Herman Broch (1886-1951) wrote The Sleepwalkers (1932) and the prose-poem The Death of Virgil (1946), the first volume of Robert Musil's (1880-1942) novel The Man Without Qualities (1930-43) was immediately hailed as a great and unusual work. Franz Werfel's (1890-1954) Barbara; oder, Die Frömmigkeit (1929) examined the problem of political action in its relation to the significance of religiousness, and Elias Canetti published his first and only novel, Die Blendung, in 1935. Joseph Roth wrote his Radetsky March (1932) in Berlin's hotels and restaurants. Musil's favorite place in Vienna was Café Museum. Soma Morgenstern, the best friend of Roth, also brought him to that café.
SELECTED WORKS:
1. Hotel Savoy, 1924 - Hotel Savoy (tr. by M. Hofmann, 1984)
2. Die Rebellion, 1924 - Rebellion (tr. by Michael Hofmann) - Kapina (suom. Ilona Nykyri) - films: TV film 1962, dir. by Wolfgang Staudte, cast: Josef Meinrad, Erna Schickl-Wegrostek, Hans Putz, Ida Krottendorf; TV film 1993, dir. by Michael Haneke, prod. Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF)
3. April, 1925
4. Der blinde Spiegel, 1925
5. Juden auf Wanderschaft, 1927 - The Wandering Jews (tr. by Michael Hofmann)
6. Die Flucht ohne Ende, 1927 - The Flight Without End (tr. by Ida Zeitlin, 1939; David Le Vay, in collaboration with Beatrice Musgrave, 1977) - TV film 1986, dir. by Michael Kehlmann, prod. Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR)
7. Zipper und sein Vater, 1928 - Zipper and His Father (tr. by M. Hofmann, 1989)
8. Rechts und Links, 1929 - Right and Left (tr. by Michael Hofmann, 1992)
9. Hiob, 1930 - Job: The Story of a Simple Man (tr. by Dorothy Thompson, 1931) - film 1936: Sins of Man, dir. Otto Brower, Gregory Ratoff, starring Jean Hersholt, Don Ameche, Allen Jenkins, Ann Shoemaker
10. Panoptikum, 1930
11. Radetzkymarsch, 1932 - Radetzky March (translators: by Geoffrey Dunlop, 1933; E. Tucker, 1974; Joachim Neugroschel, 1995) - Radetzky-marssi (suom. Aarno Peromies) - films: TV film 1965, dir. by Michael Kehlmann, cast: Leopold Rudolf, Helmut Lohner, Hertha Martin, Manfred Inger; TV mini-series 1995, dir. by Axel Corti, Gernot Roll, starring Max von Sydow, Charlotte Rampling, Claude Rich, Claude Rich, prod. Satel Film
12. Le Buste de l'Empereur, 1934 - Die Büste des Kaisers - The Bust of the Emperor (tr. by John Hoare)
13. Der Antichrist, 1934 - Antichrist (tr. by Moray Firth, 1935)
14. Tarabas, ein Gast auf dieser Erde, 1934 - Tarabas (tr. M. Hofmann, 1987) - TV film 1981, dir. by Michael Kehlmann, starring Helmut Lohner, prod. Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR)
15. Die hundert Tage, 1936 - The Ballad of the Hundred Days (tr. M. Firth, 1936)
16. Beichte eines Mörders, 1936 - Confession of a Murderer (tr. by M. Hofmann, 1985; Desmond I. Vesey, 2003)
17. Das falsche Gewicht, 1937 - Weights and Measures (tr. by David Le Vay) - TV film 1971, dir. by Bernhard Wicki, starring Helmut Qualtinger, Agnes Fink, Velimir 'Bata' Zivojinovic, Evelyn Opela
18. Die Kapuzinergruft, 1938 - The Emperor's Tomb (tr. by John Hoare, 1984) - film 1971: Trotta, dir. by Johannes Schaaf, starring András Bálint, Elma Bulla, Rosemarie Fendel
19. Die Geschichte von der 1002. Nacht, 1939 - The Tale of the 1002nd Night (tr. by Michael Hofmann) - TV film 1969, dir. by Peter Beauvais, prod. Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR)
20. Die Legende vom heiligen Trinker, 1939 - The Legend of the Holy Drinker (tr. M. Hofmann, 1989) - Pyhän juomarin legenda (suom. Heli Naski) - film 1988: La Leggenda del santo bevitore, dir. by Ermanno Olmi, starring Rutger Hauer, Anthony Quayle, Sandrine Dumas, Dominique Pinon, Sophie Segalen
21. Der Leviathan, 1940
22. Werke, 1956-1976
23. Romane, Erzählungen, Aufsätze, 1964
24. Der stumme Prophet, 1966 (written in 1929) - The Silent Prophet (tr. by M. Hofmann, 1980)
25. Das Spinnennetz, 1967 - The Spider's Web (tr. by John Hoare) - film 1989, dir. by Bernhard Wicki, starring Ulrich Mühe, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Corinna Kirchhoff
26. Der Neue Tag, 1970
27. Briefe 1911-39, 1971
28. Die Erzählungen, 1973
29. Perlefter, 1978
30. Berliner Saisonbericht, 1984
31. Im Bistro nach Mitternacht, 1999 - Report from a Parisian Paradise: Essays from France, 1925-1939 (tr. by Michael Hofmann, 2004)
32. Collected Shorter Fiction by Joseph Roth, 2001 (tr. by Michael Hofmann)
33. What I Saw: Reports From Berlin, 1920-1933, 2002 (tr. with an introduction by Michael Hoffman)
Table of Contents
Title page
Prologue
Book One
2
3
4
5
6
8
9
10
11
12
13
Book Two
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
12
13
14
15
16
Book Three
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Publisher's Note
About the Author
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