The God Behind the Window

Michael Kruger

Translated by Peter Thompson, Karen Leeder

 

5 x 8 inches, 240pp. March 2019

ISBN : 9780857426055

Rs  599.00 (HB)
$24.50 (HB)
£18.99 (HB)

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The 13 stories of Michael Krüger’s The God behind the Window capture the poignancy and cynicism of late life through tales of misanthropic old men full of the mixture of wisdom and melancholy that so often accompanies old age. In Krüger’s stories, world-weary characters seek—and only temporarily find—solace in nature and culture, rendering their search for a better life simultaneously comedic and heart wrenching. From a solitary hiker in the Swiss Alps to the book’s eponymous shut-in, these ageing malcontents are continually surprised by the unexpected interventions of a world that has come to seem predictable. Krüger captures this stage in life masterfully, contrasting the deeply personal emotions of affection, melancholy and longing with an indifferent world. The resulting stories are lyrical, philosophical and tender despite their cynicism.

 

 

Michael Krüger has been the general manager of Hanser Verlag from 1995 to 2013. He has also published several works of prose—The Cello Player (2004) and The Executor: A Comedy of Letters (2008)—besides numerous volumes of poetry. Translations of his poetry include Diderot’s Cat: Selected Poems (1994) and At Night, Beneath Trees (1998). Krüger lives in Munich.

 

Peter Thompson is an associate research fellow at the University of London, and is a writer, journalist and translator. 

Karen Leeder is a writer, translator and academic, and teaches German at New College, Oxford.

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