Visitation
ABOUT
THE BOOK
A house on the forested bank of a Brandenburg lake outside Berlin (once belonging to Erpenbeck’s grandparents) is the focus of this compact, beautiful novel. Encompassing over one hundred years of German history, from the nineteenth century to the Weimar Republic, from World War II to the Socialist German Democratic Republic, and finally reunification and its aftermath, Visitation offers the life stories of twelve individuals who over the decades seek to make their home in this one magical little house. The novel breaks into the everyday life of the house and shimmers through it, while relating the passions and fates of its inhabitants. Elegant and poetic, Visitation forms a literary mosaic of the last century, tearing open wounds and offering moments of reconciliation, with its drama and its exquisite evocation of a landscape no political upheaval can truly change. (From Publisher)
ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Susan
Bernofsky
Susan Bernofsky is an American translator of German-language literature and author. She is best known for bringing the Swiss writer Robert Walser to the attention of the English-speaking world, translating many of his books and writing his biography.
Susan Bernofsky is an American translator of German-language literature and author. She is best known for bringing the Swiss writer Robert Walser to the attention of the English-speaking world, translating many of his books and writing his biography.
NOMINATING LIBRARY COMMENTS
Erpenbeck’s novel is carefully composed. In its twelve episodes taking place by the same side of a lake in Brandenburg, German history of the 20th century is becomes concrete. This poetic novel from the prize-winning German author, Jenny Erpenbeck, reveals the life stories of twelve individuals whose lives are all connected with the same house by the side of a lake in Brandenburg, from the Weimar Republic after World War 1 to the fall of the Berlin Wall. A touching, frightening and potent novel of families, 20th century German history, and a small piece of land that sustains and clutches them all.