Saskia Vogel

Steve Sem-Sandberg

"One of Europe's most revered novelists recounts a terrible, forgotten incident in Nazi-era Vienna"--

A Novel

The Chosen Ones

In February 1940, the Nazis established what would become the second largest Jewish ghetto in the Polish city of Lódz. Its chosen leader: Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, a sixty-three-year-old Jewish businessman and orphanage director, and the elusive, authoritarian power sustaining the ghetto's very existence. From one of Scandinavia's most critically acclaimed and bestselling authors, The Emperor of Lies chronicles the tale of Rumkowski's monarchical rule over a quarter of a million Jews. Driven by a titanic ambition, he sought to transform the ghetto into a productive industrial complex and strove to make it - and himself - indispensable to the Nazi regime. Drawing on the chronicles of life in the Lódz ghetto, Steve Sem-Sandberg captures the full panorama of human resilience, and questions the nature of evil. He asks the most difficult questions: Was Rumkowski a ruthless opportunist, an accessory to the Nazi regime driven by a lust for power? Or was he a pragmatic strategist who managed to save Jewish lives through his collaboration policies?

The Emperor of Lies

Allt förgängligt är bara en bild

Roman

Ravensbruck

Theres

Noveller. Fyra korta och längre berättelser som alla tillkommit parallellt med arbetet med den hyllade romanen W. Här varieras teman som förekommer hos Georg Büchner eller i hans litterära omkrets

Büchnervariationer

Jägarna i Armentières

Hösten 1765 tillbringar Jean-Jacques Rousseau 45 dygn på Île Saint-Pierre, en ö i republiken Bern. Verk som Julie eller Den nya Héloïse, Om samhällsfördraget och Émile har på bara några år gjort filosofen till en av Europas mest omtalade personer. Inte minst väcker de upplysta resonemangen om religion i Émile anstöt och han jagas, först från Frankrike, sedan från Schweiz, anklagad för att vara en avfälling. Steve Sem-Sandbergs "Oceanen" är en stark och gripande roman om en kompromisslös solitär som i växterna han samlar på ön ser den enda möjliga tillflykten. Men snart kan filosofen inte fly längre. På natten kommer de oförsonliga drömmarna, och förflutna handlingar han länge valt att inte kännas vid tränger sig på likt vattnet som stiger kring ön.

Oceanen

De utvalda

De fattiga i Lóđź

After many years away, Andreas returns to his childhood home on a small island off the Norwegian coast. He is there to sort through the belongings of his late foster father in their decaying old house, the Yellow Villa. But he soon finds himself overwhelmed with unexpected memories, and begins to uncover not only the shadowy history of the island, but the mysterious truth about his family's pasT.

The Tempest

Wybrańcy

Anna Paterson

Longlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize In February 1940, the Nazis established what would become the second-largest Jewish ghetto in the Polish city of Lódz. Its chosen leader: Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, a sixty-three-year-old Jewish businessman and orphanage director -- and the elusive, authoritarian power sustaining the ghetto’s very existence. From one of Sweden's most critically acclaimed and bestselling authors, The Emperor of Lies chronicles the tale of Rumkowski's monarchical rule over a quarter-million Jews for the next four years. Driven by a titanic ambition, he sought to transform the ghetto into a productive industrial complex and strove to make it --and himself -- indispensable to the Nazi regime. Drawing on the detailed records of life in the Lódz ghetto, Steve Sem-Sandberg captures the full panorama of human resilience and probes deeply into the nature of evil. He asks the most difficult questions: Was Rumkowski a ruthless opportunist, an accessory to the Nazi regime driven by a lust for power? Or was he a pragmatic strategist who managed to save Jewish lives through his collaboration policies? Winner of the August Prize, Sweden’s most important literary award, The Emperor of Lies is a haunting, profoundly challenging novel.

A compelling tale of power, corruption and compromise from one of Scandinavia's most revered authors.In February 1940, the Nazis established what would become the second largest Jewish ghetto in Poland, in the city of Lódz. Its chosen leader: Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, a sixty-three-year-old Jewish businessman. Mysterious, ambiguous and monarchical, 'King Chaim' forced adults and children alike to work punishing hours providing supplies for the German military. Thousands of others were transported and never seen again.Was Rumkowski an accessory to the Nazi regime, driven by lust for power, or was he a pragmatic strategist, actively saving Jewish lives through apparent collaboration? Steve Sem-Sandberg draws on genuine chronicles of life in the Lódz ghetto to capture the full panorama of human resilience, and to question the nature of good and evil.

I should not have gone back to the island but did it all the same. After many years away, Andreas returns to his childhood home on a small island off the Norwegian coast. He is there to sort through the belongings of his late foster father in their decaying old house, the Yellow Villa. But he soon finds himself overwhelmed with unexpected memories, and begins to uncover not only the shadowy history of the island, but the mysterious truth about his family's past ... Rich in shimmering echoes from Shakespeare's play, Steve Sem-Sandberg's The Tempest is a hypnotic portrayal of the inherited guilt that seeps through generations, haunting an island overgrown with myths.

A reimagining of Buechner’s classic play Woyzeck, the tale of jealousy, love turned to hate, and murder and its consequences propels this internationally acclaimed novel The novel W. is a literary prequel to one of modern literature’s touchstone texts, the play Woyzeck—the basis of films, operas, and numerous translations and adaptations. Considered the first modern drama, Woyzeck tells the story of a loyal foot soldier who, in a fit of jealous rage, kills the woman he loves. In 1836 this true story inspired Georg Buechner to write the play, unfinished at his death at just 23 years old. W., the astonishing new novel by August Prize–winning author Steve Sem-Sandberg, grippingly recounts the lovers’ relationship, the murder case, and the solder’s execution, while digging deeper into the world and motivations of the characters. Taking this classic and enduring work as his starting point, in poetic and controlled prose, Sem-Sandberg reveals a ruthless, moving, and unforgettable story of human vulnerability and the abyss that Buechner felt was a part of every person. Larger forces such as the horrors of war and the dehumanizing nature of psychiatry collide with the soldier’s own small world, and love devolves into hatred as Woyzeck desperately and humanly struggles to make something of the life given to him.

Steve Sem-Sandberg

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