{"product_id":"the-capital-robert-menasse-9781631497865","title":"The Capital","description":"A highly inventive novel of ideas written in the rich European tradition, \u003cem\u003eThe Capital\u003c\/em\u003e transports readers to the cobblestoned streets of twenty-first-century Brussels. Chosen as the European Union's symbolic capital in 1958, this elusive setting has never been examined so intricately in literature. Translated with zest, pace and wit (\u003cem\u003eSpectator\u003c\/em\u003e) by Jamie Bulloch, Robert Menasse's \u003cem\u003eThe Capital\u003c\/em\u003e plays out the effects of a fiercely nationalistic \"union.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Recalling the Balzacian conceit of assembling a vast parade of characters whose lives conspire to form a driving central plot, Menasse adapts this technique with modern sensibility to reveal the hastily assembled capital in all of its eccentricities. We meet, among others, Fenia Xenopoulou, a Greek Cypriot recently \"promoted\" to the Directorate-General for Culture. When tasked with revamping the boring image of the European Commission with the Big Jubilee Project, she endorses her Austrian assistant Martin Sussman's idea to proclaim Auschwitz as its birthplace--of course, to the horror of the other nation states. Meanwhile, Inspector ﾉmile Brunfaut attempts to solve a gritty murder being suppressed at the highest level; Matek, a Polish hitman who regrets having never become a priest, scrambles after taking out the wrong man; and outraged pig farmers protest trade restrictions as a brave escapee squeals through the streets.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e These narratives and more are masterfully woven, revealing the absurdities--and real dangers--of a fracturing Europe. A tour de force from one of Austria's most esteemed novelists, \u003cem\u003eThe Capital\u003c\/em\u003e is a mordantly funny and piercingly urgent saga of the European Union, and an aerial feat of sublime world literature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robert Menasse\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1631497863\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781631497865\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Liveright Publishing Corporation\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/07\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 432\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.75lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.30h x 5.40w x 1.10d","brand":"Robert Menasse","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44046478606591,"sku":"9781631497865","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_aa279f22-5836-44bf-9b27-26bb4bdf52e4.jpg?v=1684984779","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-capital-robert-menasse-9781631497865","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}