Stigmata of Bliss: Three Novellas

Klaus Merz

Translated by Tess Lewis

 

5 x 8 inches, 192 pp., 12 halftones January 2017

ISBN : 9780857423719

Rs  495.00 (HB)
$21.00 (HB)
£14.50 (HB)

Buy (HB)

Klaus Merz is one of the most prominent, prolific and versatile Swiss writers working today. Celebrated as a master of concise, condensed sentences, Merz brings depth and resonance to spare narratives with lyrical prose and striking images. Stigmata of Bliss brings together three of Merz’s critically acclaimed novellas, offering English readers the perfect introduction to his work.

 

'Jakob Asleep' introduces a family marked by illness, eccentricity and a child’s death. In 'A Man’s Fate', a moment of inattention on a mountainous hike upends a teacher’s life and his understanding of mortality. And finally, 'The Argentine' traces the fluctuations of memory and desire in a man’s journey around the world. In each novella, Merz takes readers on a profound and intimate journey. Read as a whole, the works complement, enrich and echo one another.

 

Klaus Merz is one of the most prominent, prolific and versatile contemporary Swiss writers. He has written more than two dozen books of poetry, long and short fiction, essays and commentary, along with screenplays for television and film, as well as stage and radio plays. His projected seven-volume Collected Works is being published by Haymon Verlag. Merz has won numerous important prizes, most recently the 2012 Friedrich Hölderlin Prize. 

 

Tess Lewis has translated seven books and numerous essays and articles from French and German. Her translations include works by Peter Handke, Alois Hotschnig, Julya Rabinowich, Lukas B�rfuss, Philippe Jaccottet, Pascal Bruckner and Jean-Luc Benoziglio among others. She has been awarded a PEN Translation Fund grant and an NEA Translation Fellowship. She also serves as an Advisory Editor for The Hudson Review and writes essays on European Literature for various literary journals and newspapers.

Swiss List