Monday 12 April 2010

Settlement Shortlisted for Impac Prize

According to the Irish Times, Christoph Hein's novel Settlement (trans. Philip Boehm) is one of eight titles listed for the International Impac Dublin Literary Award.

I haven't read it, but Michael Orthofer sums it up at the Complete Review as a "fairly compelling roundabout tale of small-town (East-)German lives." Christoph Hein is, of course, a renowned man of (East-)German letters, his Drachenblut novella a set piece on many undergraduate German courses. The great thing is, he's still got what it takes. I really enjoyed his In seinem frühen Kindheit ein Garten, about a man whose ex-terrorist son dies, prompting him to rethink his values and attitude to the state.

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