General Of The Dead Army
Ismail Kadare author Derek Coltman translator David Smiley editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:4th Dec '08
Should be back in stock very soon
Albania: once a battlefield, now a charnel-house. And yet, life goes on ...This sweeping epic of post-war Albania was Kadare's first novel.
Twenty years after the end of the Second World War, an Italian general is despatched to Albania to recover his country's dead. Once there he meets a German general who is engaged upon an identical mission, and their conversations brings out into the open the extent of their horror and guilt, newly exacerbated by their present task.
Twenty years after the end of the Second World War, an Italian general is despatched to Albania to recover his country's dead.
Once there he meets a German general who is engaged upon an identical mission, and their conversations brings out into the open the extent of their horror and guilt, newly exacerbated by their present task. As they descend from the callous trivialities of their gruesome business, past and present, to suffering self-disgust, the author gives us glimpses of the lives of the people whose graves they are unearthing.
‘He has been compared to Gogol, Kafka and Orwell. But Kadare's is an original voice, universal yet deeply rooted in his own soil’ Independent on Sunday
He has been compared to Gogol, Kafka and Orwell. But Kadare's is an original voice, universal yet deeply rooted in his own soil * Independent on Sunday *
A novelist of dazzling mastery -- Paul Binding * Independent *
Astonishing...his finest work -- Azar Nafisi, Man Booker judge and author of 'Reading Lolita in Tehran' * Guardian *
With its metonymic realism and fidelity to its characters, The General of the Dead Army reminds us why his work is so valued * New Statesman *
Literary gold dust - haunting, bleakly comedic and ultimately horrific * The Times *
ISBN: 9780099518266
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 17mm
Weight: 193g
272 pages