Austrian fiction

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The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler (transl. Charlotte Collins): Dark days in Vienna

27 June 2020 / 9 Comments

It’s a both a joy and a worry when a second novel appears on the horizon following one quite so spectacularly good as Robert Seethaler’s A Whole Life. Will it measure up or be a disappointment? What I hadn’t considered was that The Tobacconist would exceed my expectations. Very much darker than the A Whole …

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A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler (transl. Charlotte Collins): Being greater that its parts

29 June 2020 / 14 Comments

There’s something very attractive about a slim novel which encapsulates the life of an ordinary person, someone whose life might well be judged narrow by those who stride across the world’s stage. Mary Costello’s very fine Academy Street springs to mind – I’m still trying to work out why it failed to appear on the …

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