Perlmann's Silence

Mercier, Pascal; Whiteside, Shaun (trans.)

ISBN 10: 0802120830 / ISBN 13: 9780802120830

Published by Grove Press, New York, 2011

About this Item

Paperback. Very good condition. Lower corners of covers are a little creased and page block has a couple of minor marks. Front cover is slightly bowed. Pages are sound and clear. TA.

Seller Inventory # 512792

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Perlmann's Silence
• Publisher: Grove Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0802120830
• ISBN 13: 9780802120830
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good
• Book Type: Used
• Seller catalogs:
  • Literature

About this title

Synopsis

"What might have been, in less talented hands, an amusing literary thriller is, in Mercier's prose . . . something far more complex." —Alberto Manguel, The Guardian (UK)

Night Train to Lisbon, a tremendous international best seller, established Pascal Mercier as one of the most striking European voices in recent years, a writer whose finely wrought language and suspenseful narratives captivate readers' hearts and minds while equally quickening their pulses. Now, in Perlmann’s Silence, Mercier returns with a deft psychological portrait of a man striving to get his life back on track in the wake of his beloved wife’s death.

Philipp Perlmann is a prominent linguist who's come to a picturesque seaside town near Genoa to speak at a gathering of renowned international colleagues. Derailed by grief over his wife's sudden death in an accident, Perlmann is no longer confident of his professional standing, and writing his keynote address seems like an insurmountable task. As the deadline approaches, Perlmann realizes that he will have nothing to present to his expectant colleagues. Panic sets in and he decides to plagiarize the work of Leskov, a Russian colleague who was unable to attend. But when Leskov’s imminent arrival is announced and threatens to expose Perlmann as a fraud, Perlmann’s mounting desperation drives him to the brink of murder.

An exquisite, captivating portrait of a mind slowly unraveling, Perlmann’s Silence is a brilliant, textured meditation on the complex interplay between language and memory, and the depths of the human psyche.

About the Author

A professor of philosophy, Pascal Mercier was born in 1944 in Bern, Switzerland. Perlmann’s Silence is his second novel to be translated into English, following the bestselling Night Train to Lisbon. He currently lives in Berlin.