The Spell

Pristine, clean & tight copy, unread in AS NEW condition. "THE SPELL is both a literary masterpiece---the equal, in its way, of Thomas Mann's Magic Mountain---and a book that permanently alters our sense of how the greatest writers of the 20th century responded to Hitler. Set in a small mountain village, THE SPELL is the story of Marius Ratti, a drifter who arrives and contaminates the village with his virulent, pestilential influence. Ratti is a mesmerizing, Hitler-like figure who preaches a return to primordial simplicity and archaic purity. He preys on the greed of the villagers, twisting them to his own madness. What Broch chronicles is the awakening of the darkest urges of the human spirit and the bestiality of the crowd. Like Kafka, Broch confronts the issue of how art can seriously pursue truth during periods of extreme political terror. THE SPELL is much more than a literary fable; it is a brilliant chronicle of the darker aspects of human nature." Attractive & bright, shiny-covered copy, w/sharp corners & crisp edges, no creases in spine, quite presentable. …