Umbrella - Hardcover

FERDINAND MOUNT

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0434002003 ISBN 13: 9780434002009

Publisher: WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD, 1994

Synopsis

If this, Uwe Timm's enchanting new novel, were a cautionary tale, the tag line would go something like this: Should you plan to be in Berlin on Midsummer Night, the time of the summer solstice -- Johannesnacht in German -- Watch Out!

The narrator of Timm's story is a writer who simply can't get started on his next book. So he accepts a commission to write an article about potatoes. He has some interest in the subject because of an uncle who could, remarkably, from taste alone, differentiate one species of potato from another. Since it turns out that one of the authorities on the subject worked in East Berlin, our hero takes off to do some research. The Washington Post has lauded Uwe Timm's ability to make a place -- in this case the new Berlin -- "more real for you than the place you grew up. Timm is essentially an anthropologist of this primitive computer age, an archaeologist of newly constructed places." Rushing between the East and West sectors of the now-united city, the narrator becomes involved in a series of madcap adventures: odd, sometimes threatening encounters with all sorts of people, and strange entanglements. Being the master storyteller that he is, Uwe Timm spins a fascinating tale here, one filled with surprise, magic, comedy, and hope.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

The narrator of Timm's story is a writer who simply can't get started on his next book. So he accepts a commission to write an article about potatoes. He has some interest in the subject because of an uncle who could, remarkably, from taste alone, differentiate one species of potato from another. Since it turns out that one of the authorities on the subject worked in East Berlin, our hero takes off to do some research. Rushing between the East and West sectors of the now-united city the narrator becomes involved in a series of madcap adventures: odd, sometimes threatening encounters with all sorts of people, and strange entanglements.

About the Author:

Peter Tegel fled Sudetenland, a region of the former Czechoslovakia, at the age of six with his Czech-German family. He escaped to Britain to avoid the Nazis and then graduated from Balliol College, Oxford. He has produced translations of German, French and Russian literature. Currently, Tegel is co-chair of the Pushkin Club, a nonpolitical organization in London that is dedicated to Russian artistic and literary culture.

Uwe Timm was born in Hamburg, Germany. His first novel, Hot Summer, was published in 1974. New Directions publishes five of his novels, including the German best selling, The Invention of Curried Sausage, and the award winning, Morenga. After apprenticing as a furrier, Timm studied philosophy and philology in Paris and Munich. He is the 1989 winner of the Munich Literary Prize. He has been called an "extraordinary story teller" (The New Yorker) and "one of the best living German Writers" (Kirkus Reviews).

Peter Tegel fled Sudetenland, a region of the former Czechoslovakia, at the age of six with his Czech-German family. He escaped to Britain to avoid the Nazis and then graduated from Balliol College, Oxford. He has produced translations of German, French and Russian literature. Currently, Tegel is co-chair of the Pushkin Club, a nonpolitical organization in London that is dedicated to Russian artistic and literary culture.

About this edition

• Publisher: WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0434002003
• ISBN 13: 9780434002009
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 128