where_were_you_robert_enzensberger
2002 Nominated

Where were you, Robert?

artwork-image

ABOUT
THE BOOK

One day absent-minded Robert, fourteen years old with distant eyes, becomes simply absent Robert, adrift in history. He falls into picture after picture, not sure when or where he will emerge. On his adventures he rides as a highway robber, dazzles an Enlightment philosopher with a device made centuries after his birth, meets his grandmother when she was just a little girl, and fences with an impertinent eighteenth-century squire to silence his gossip about the Princess he loves. Each time he shifts, rubs his eyes to reveal a new life, he is further and further from the one he belongs in, from his own kitchen where the journey began.

ABOUT
THE AUTHOR Hans
Magnus Enzensberger

Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1929–2022) was a towering German poet, essayist, and political thinker. Renowned for his terse, ironic, and engaged political style, he published over 70 books, including narrative poetry and bestselling children’s fiction like The Number Devil. He lived in Munich, Germany, until his death.

Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1929–2022) was a towering German poet, essayist, and political thinker. Renowned for his terse, ironic, and engaged political style, he published over 70 books, including narrative poetry and bestselling children’s fiction like The Number Devil. He lived in Munich, Germany, until his death.

ABOUT
THE TRANSLATOR Anthea
Bell

Anthea Bell OBE was an English translator of literary works, including children’s literature, from French, German and Danish. These include The Castle by Franz Kafka, Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald, the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke and the French Asterix comics with co-translator Derek Hockridge.

Anthea Bell OBE was an English translator of literary works, including children’s literature, from French, German and Danish. These include The Castle by Franz Kafka, Austerlitz by W. G. Sebald, the Inkworld trilogy by Cornelia Funke and the French Asterix comics with co-translator Derek Hockridge.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Country
Germany
Original Language
German
Publisher
Hamish Hamilton
Translator
Anthea Bell

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