Original title Die Rebellion Publication date 27 July 1924 Pages 137 Translator Michael Hofmann | Language German Published in English 1999 Originally published 27 July 1924 Page count 137 Country Austria | |
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Publishers Vorwärts, Verlag Die Schmiede Similar Works by Joseph Roth, Other books | ||
Rebellion (German: Die Rebellion) is a 1924 novel by the Austrian writer Joseph Roth. It tells the story of a war veteran who has become a street musician after losing one leg. The novel was published in the newspaper Vorwärts from 27 July to 29 August 1924. It has been adapted for television twice: in 1962 by Wolfgang Staudte, and in 1993 by Michael Haneke.
Reception
Nicholas Lezard of The Guardian reviewed the book in 2000: "Roth's tale has that very European, straightforward, fairy-tale logic that makes everything both inevitable yet strangely nightmarish. You wouldn't be far wrong to think of Roth as occupying the fourth corner of a square whose other apices are Kafka, Musil and Stefan Zweig." Lezard continued: "At one or two points the novel leaps into strange, almost magical-realist territory; not a term I like much, but it suggests the sense of dreamlike dislocation you feel from time to time while reading. This portrait of one of the shards of a splintering society is deceptively simple, but will haunt you for a long time afterwards."