Exiled Shadow (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780300265729)

A virtuoso collage novel about narrative, identity, and exile, from international literary sensation Norman Manea

"One of the most eloquent living witnesses of the European 20th century, Norman Manea, at 87, has brought out Exiled Shadow, a contemplative work of fiction . . . [in] a strong, clarion translation into English by Carla Baricz. . . . A fitting summarization of a rich and deeply honorable career."--Sam Sacks, Wall Street Journal

"Exiled Shadow belongs among the great, intricate, and uncompromising works of contemporary literature."--Jan Knoffeke, Neue Z?cher Zeitung (Switzerland)

In this vibrant mosaic of voices, sources, and stories, the protagonist, known only as the Nomadic Misanthrope, leaves communist Romania and is reunited with his friend Gunther, an unrepentant Marxist exiled in Berlin. Their meeting sparks a spirited dialogue that endures throughout the Nomadic Misanthrope's subsequent decades in the United States. At the center of the plot is the figure of the shadow--the insubstantial shape of the exile, the wandering Jew, the death camp survivor, the individual under totalitarianism, the dark side of the Jungian personality--a figure that calls into question the boundaries of the human condition.

Recalling the beloved nineteenth-century German tale of Peter Schlemihl, the man who sold his shadow for a bag of gold, this is Norman Manea's most daring work yet: an intimate record of alienation and endurance.

Author: Norman Manea
ISBN-10: 0300265727
ISBN-13: 9780300265729
Publisher: Yale University Press
Language: English
Published: 08/22/2023
Pages: 376
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.08lbs
Size: 8.05h x 5.32w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 09/08/2023