The Sleep of the Righteous

Doppelg ngers, a murderer's guilt, pulp noir, fanatical police, and impossible romances--these are the pieces from which German master Wolfgang Hilbig builds a divided nation battling its demons. Delving deep into the psyches of both East and West Germany, The Sleep of the Righteous reveals a powerful, apocalyptic account of the century-defining nation's trajectory from 1945 to 1989. From a youth in a war-scarred industrial town to wearying labor as a factory stoker, surreal confrontations with the Stasi, and, finally, a conflicted escape to the West, Hilbig creates a cipher that is at once himself and so many of his fellow Germans. Evoking the eerie bleakness of films like Tarkovsky's Stalker and The Lives of Others, this titan of German letters combines the Romanticism of Poe with the absurdity of Kafka to create a visionary, somber statement on the ravages of history and the promises of the future.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Two Lines Press
Published: 10/13/2015
ISBN: 9781931883474
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 7.90h x 4.90w x 0.70d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 08/31/2015
New York Times Book Review 01/10/2016 pg. 19
New York Times Book Review 01/17/2016 pg. 22