An Ermine in Czernopol

by Gregor von Rezzori

Other authorsDaniel Kehlmann (Introduction), Philip Boehm (Translator)
Paperback, 2012

Status

Available

Call number

833.912

Collection

Publication

NYRB Classics (2012), Edition: 1, Paperback, 400 pages

Description

An NYRB Classics Original Set just after World War I, An Ermine in Czernopol centers on the tragicomic fate of Tildy, an erstwhile officer in the army of the now-defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire, determined to defend the virtue of his cheating sister-in-law at any cost. Rezzori surrounds Tildy with a host of fantastic characters, engaging us in a kaleidoscopic experience of a city where nothing is as it appears--a city of discordant voices, of wild ugliness and heartbreaking disappointment, in which, however, "laughter was everywhere, part of the air we breathed, a crackling tension in the atmosphere, always ready to erupt in showers of sparks or discharge itself in thunderous peals."

Media reviews

User reviews

LibraryThing member Laura400
What a book: complex, difficult and singular in many ways, though von Rezzori's humor, affection and intellect shine through. It is a book of amazing breadth and depth.

Its structure is unusual. The narrator uses the "we" voice, speaking for himself and his siblings but also at times for the
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collective citizenry of the fictionalized, and no-longer-extant, city of Czernopol. And the story is not conventionally constructed brick by brick, or step by step, but rather seems to add layer upon layer until we understand what happened. Each chapter brings either a new person or a new incident that together give us the story of the narrator, the city and its inhabitants.

The putative central character is a Major Tildy, whom the narrator introduces as the "hero" of the tale. But if there is a real hero, it is the city itself, a curious but admirable melting pot soon to be besieged by the looming forces of Naziism and modernity. If there is a real heart, it is the magical atmosphere of a childhood which, like the city itself, is soon inevitably and irredeemably to be lost.

I loved it, but the book isn't for everyone. Reading it was at times a painstaking process. But I think it's something of a masterpiece. It's obvious that the book was a challenge to translate, so kudos to the translator for making the effort, and kudos to NYRB for making this available.
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Language

Original language

German

Original publication date

2004
1958

Physical description

376 p.; 4.99 inches

ISBN

1590173414 / 9781590173411

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