The Concert - Couverture souple

Kadare, Ismail

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1559704152 ISBN 13 : 9781559704151

Editeur : Arcade Publishing, 1998

Synopsis

Book by Kadare Ismail

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

In Enver Hoxha's Albania, news was closely guarded and speculation forever rife. When an engineer stepped on the foot of a visiting Chinese man, a Diplomatic incident resulted, and couriers between Tirana and Beijing carried back and forth annotated X-rays of The Foot. Was the sudden tension between the two allies connected with the punishment meted out to a group of Albanian tank officers? Were Comrades Enver and Mao still in step on the sovereign role of the Party?

The brittle nature of political realities is epitomised in a Gala Concert in Beijing. A hand-picked audience of diplomats and party officials see destiny for the fragile beast it is when, surveying the Politburo boxes, they notice to their horror an Empty Chair.

Kadare - the author of 'one of the most complete visions of totalitarianism ever committed to paper' (Vanity Fair) - has penned a glimpse inside a seething melting pot of rumour and reputation, as the morning's orthodoxies become heresies by dinner time and the Sino-Albanian axis finally comes adrift.

Revue de presse

"His finest book is The Concert, an epic study of the Albanians when living under the thumb of their sole world ally, the Chinese. It is half realism, half Borgesian, and the form and content jointly stun" (Independent)

"The Concert is a splendidly deep and serious novel that entirely transcends, as it were, its unremarkable outer garment. Kadare's achievement is to dramatise truthfully throughout. This is a book to read and re-read" (Guardian)

"He has been compared to Gogol, Kafka and Orwell. But Kadare's is an original voice, universal yet deeply rooted in his own soil" (Independent on Sunday)

"It is Shakespearian in its sweep of history with its insertions of poetic and theatrical farce and its description of the contortions Albanians had to perform to survive Marxist doctrine" (Sydney Morning Herald)

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Arcade Publishing
• Date d'édition: 1998
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1559704152
• ISBN 13: 9781559704151
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 444
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible