Jakob Wassermann

Roman historique. Récit de la chute de Cajamarca, une cité inca de la cordilière nord du Pérou, le 16 novembre 1532. Ce jour-là, l'Inca Atahualpa fut capturé par le conquistador Francisco Pizarro. Le narrateur, témoin des événements, les rapporte trente ans plus tard ; ses commentaires expriment à la fois ses remords, son impuissance à intervenir et sa fascination pour le personnage de l'Inca. Le dernier chapitre s'achève sur la vision d'apocalypse d'un monde en proie aux ténèbres, ce qui préfigure les persécutions antisémites dont l'auteur (1873-1934) a connu les prémices. Oeuvre à portée universelle dans la thématique du respect de l'autre et de ses valeurs, intérêt de l'ancrage historique : la conquête espagnole, et plus particulièrement celle du Pérou par Pizarre, la civilisation inca, le rôle de l'Eglise et le motif de la croisade. Ce qui permet d'interroger le traitement de l'histoire dans la fiction.

Alexander Herzog, a young writer, goes to Vienna to escape his debts and a failed love affair. There he is pursued by book-loving Ganna: giddy, girlish, clumsy, eccentric and wild. Dazzled and unnerved by her devotion to him, and attracted to the large dowry offered by her wealthy father, he thinks he can mould Ganna into what he wants. But no-one can control her troubling passions. As their marriage starts to self-destruct, Herzog will discover that Ganna has resources and determination of which he had no idea - and that he can never escape her.

Translation of Mein Weg als Deutscher und Jude. Full name: Karl Jakob Wassermann.

It is a story of wrongful condemnation for murder, and of its consequences. Leonhart Maurizius, an art historian, is found guilty of murdering his wife and condemned to death, but the sentence is commuted to life imprisonment. The public prosecutor in the case, Freiherr von Andergast, has a son Etzel, who, at the instigation of the condemned man's father, devotes himself to ascertaining the truth. He succeeds, after considerable research, in proving that Leonhart's sister-in-law, Anna Jahn, was the guilty person. Leonhart, who has served eighteen years, is pardoned. The prosecutor resigns and loses his reason. Leonhart can make nothing of his newly granted freedom and takes his own life. The sequel is Etzel Andergast.

"Alexander Herzog, a young writer, goes to Vienna to escape his debts and a failed love affair. There he is pursued by book-loving Ganna: giddy, girlish, clumsy, eccentric, and wild. Dazzled and unnerved by her devotion to him, and attracted to the large dowry offered by her wealthy father, he thinks he can mold Ganna into what he wants. But no one can control her troubling passions. As their marriage starts to self-destruct, Herzog will discover that he can never escape her. Posthumously published in 1934 and based on Wassermann's own ruinous marriage, My Marriage is a tragic masterpiece that unfolds in shocking detail. This story of rare intensity and drama is now brought to English readers in a powerful translation by Michael Hofmann. "--