The Assignment: or, On the Observing of the Observer of the Observers (Heritage of Sociology)

Durrenmatt, Friedrich

ISBN 10: 0226174468 / ISBN 13: 9780226174464

Edité par University of Chicago Press, 2008

A propos de cet article

Unmarked. Translated from the German by Joel Agee. Foreword by Theodore Ziolkowski. Originally published in 1986, this novel explores topics found in today's headlines: terrorism, revolutionary activities, border clashes, secret weapon tests, spy satellites, and more. 129p.

N° de réf. du vendeur 28164

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: The Assignment: or, On the Observing of the Observer of the Observers (Heritage of Sociology)
• Éditeur: University of Chicago Press
• Date de parution: 2008
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0226174468
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780226174464
• Reliure: Paperback
• État de l'article: Very Good
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Fiction

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

In Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s experimental thriller The Assignment, the wife of a psychiatrist has been raped and killed near a desert ruin in North Africa. Her husband hires a woman named F. to reconstruct the unsolved crime in a documentary film. F. is soon unwittingly thrust into a paranoid world of international espionage where everyone is watched—including the watchers. After discovering a recent photograph of the supposed murder victim happily reunited with her husband, F. becomes trapped in an apocalyptic landscape riddled with political intrigue, crimes of mistaken identity, and terrorism.

F.’s labyrinthine quest for the truth is Dürrenmatt’s fictionalized warning against the dangers of a technologically advanced society that turns everyday life into one of constant scrutiny. Joel Agee’s elegant translation will introduce a fresh generation of English-speaking readers to one of European literature’s masters of language, suspense, and dystopia.

“The narrative is accelerated from the start. . . . As the novella builds to its horripilating climax, we realize the extent to which all values have thereby been inverted. The Assignment is a parable of hell for an age consumed by images.”—New York Times Book Review

“His most ambitious book . . . dark and devious . . . almost obsessively drawn to mankind’s most fiendish crimes.”—Chicago Tribune

“A tour-de-force . . . mesmerizing.”—Village Voice

À propos de l?auteur

Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-1990) was born in the village of Konolfingen, near Berne, Switzerland. He wrote prolifically during the 1950s, '60s, and '70s, taking particular interest in human rights and the preservation of Israel. He is the author of numerous books published by the University of Chicago Press, including The Pledge.