The Collected Stories of Joseph Roth [Hardcover]

Joseph Roth (Author), Michael Hofmann (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2002 | Series: B'Nai B'Rith Jewish Heritage Classics

Roth's novellas and short stories will rank with Chekhov's and Kafka's as among the greatest of modern literature.

Roth's novellas and short stories will rank with Chekhov's and Kafka's as among the greatest of modern literature. Appearing in English for the first time, The Collected Stories of Joseph Roth is a remarkable achievement, seventeen novellas and stories that echo the intensity and achievement of his greatest novel, The Radetzky March. Spanning the entire range of Roth's brief life (1894-1939) and including many stories just recently discovered, the book showcases the stunning "Strawberries" (1929), which comprises the first few chapters of a novel Roth would never complete. Here, clearly at the height of his literary prowess, Roth depicts his native town of Brody, a mad little Jewish village given over to mild criminality, yet oddly still ticking along. Similarly breathtaking, indeed reminiscent of Chekhov, are the novellas "Stationmaster Fallmerayer" (1933) and "The Bust of the Emperor" (1935). These short works, each a stunning example of Roth's legendary explorations of character, reflect an enduring and tragic sensibility that stands alone in the annals of twentieth-century fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Belatedly recognized in this country, but long acclaimed in Europe for such brilliant, classic novels as The Radetzky March, Roth died in 1939 in the early days of WWII. The 17 stories in this collection display his diverse but sometimes erratic talent. In the early entries, Roth paints his plots and characters in short, broad strokes, a trait leading to abrupt, unpredictable plot twists that occasionally blur the effect of his shorter works. When he stretches out and delves into the irony and humor of European life, however, his narratives acquire considerable resonance. "Station Fallmerayer," written in 1933, is a heartrending account of an Austrian station master who becomes obsessed with a Russian countess he rescues from a train wreck, despite the effects his pursuit has on their respective marriages. "The Triumph of Beauty" works on a different level as Roth explores the impact of an attractive, fickle hypochondriac on her beleaguered husband. Several other narratives extend to novella length, and the collection also contains works that were intended as blueprints for novels, such as the vividly evocative, elegiac "Strawberries." His penultimate achievement, "The Leviathan," tells of a coral merchant preoccupied with the mystery of the sea, who falls for the lure of selling fake merchandise, only to join his precious original wares in the watery depths. This collection marks the first time Roth's short fiction (some of which came to light only recently) has been available in English, and although a few of these stories are immature early works, taken together they testify to the talents of a writer who was penetratingly prescient about the tragedies that marred the 20th century.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The Austrian-born Roth is probably best known for his 1932 novel, The Radetzky March, which portrayed how, through a quirk of fate, an unassuming soldier and his family are suddenly elevated to a higher station within the soon-to-be crumbling Austro-Hungarian Empire, severing them forever from the life that they had known and loved. The detail with which Roth portrayed his country and customs in that novel is evident in this collection, which couples recently unearthed stories from Roth's early career with previously published stories and novellas from his career after fleeing the Nazis in 1933. His early pieces tend toward the ironic and personal, exposing fatal flaws in the sad lives of his heroes, like "The Honor Student" who puts ambition before love or the paper pusher who is foolishly loyal to his less-than-progressive employer in "Career." Roth's later works widen in scope and echo the times and feelings surrounding World War I, as in the thwarted would-be romance of "Stationmaster Fallmerayer" and the heartfelt requiem for the passing of monarchy in "The Bust of the Emperor." But the irony remains throughout, as does Roth's gift of storytelling, which is intentionally simple and direct. The volume is seemingly aimed at Roth's followers, but readers interested in the period will welcome it as well. Larger libraries will find this a good complement to Radetzky and Roth's other novels. Marc Kloszewski, Indiana Free Lib., PA

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1st edition (February 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393043207
• ISBN-13: 978-0393043204
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short fiction as great as his novels, May 21, 2005

By 

Kirk Falconer (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected Stories of Joseph Roth (Paperback)

In recent years, Joseph Roth has emerged as one of my very favourite writers. It is quite a puzzle that the author of such works as The Radetzky March, Job and Rebellion remains largely unknown to so many English-speaking readers - and even those well acquainted with modern European literature, and the likes of Thomas Mann. Several wonderful translators - not least of them, the poet Michael Hoffman - are helping to correct this sorry situation. Hoffman's rendition of The Collected Stories of Joseph Roth is the latest service in a great cause, as it shows Roth also had a gift for short fiction. With his characteristic lyricism, and precise depiction of conflicted, and all-too-human characters, Roth creates several more memorable stories. Anyone familiar with Roth's work might recognize the haunting Stationmaster Fallmerayer, as this is perhaps the best known work in this collection. Certainly they will recognize Stationmaster as vintage Roth, once read, as it is redolent of the writer's unique ability to capture the simple tragedy of simple lives, sensitively, but without sentimentality. The same can be said of The Bust of the Emperor, which contains echoes of the novel The Emperor's Tomb. A particular favourite of mine was Barbara, the responsible mother, "Didn't the name sound like hard labor", who knows responsibility to her son, but perhaps not to herself. How many writers, Chekhov aside, can distil with such poignancy a character's whole emotional life in a mere eight brief pages?

It is a glorious collection. Buy it, read it, keep it by your side for future reference.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Collected Brilliance, June 29, 2008

By 

Rundfunk6 (Las Vegas, NV) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected Stories of Joseph Roth (Paperback)

A sheer literary clinic in the art of the erzhalungen / short story. Roth's cool-headed, knowing, bittersweet, deeply human, and, according to Brodsky, ultimately poetic collection is a delight that keeps on giving. True, a few of the stories included were still 'in progress,' or simply unfinished, but the aggregate offer a tantalizing glimpse at the breadth of Roth's story-telling power. 'The Honors Student' 'The Cartel' and 'This morning a letter arrived...' are personal favorites; the reputations of 'Stationmaster Fallmerayer' and 'The Bust of the Emperor' (both published in Overlook's very fine Three Novellas) are well-known. It is a priceless portraiture of a vanished time and place whose dual emotional and entertainment value far outpace quite a number of his better-known contemporaries. It is high time this author received the attention his works richly deserve from the American ivory tower.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, November 2, 2009

By 

B. Berthold "brad13" (Somewhere out west...) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Collected Stories of Joseph Roth (Paperback)

Joseph Roth is best known for his masterful novel, `The Radetzky March,` a powerful and evocative picture of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy's final days as witnessed by one of its loyal, aristocratic scions, Franz Von Trotta. Written in sparse, journalistic prose, `The Radetzky March` nevertheless draws the reader into the colorful, many-tongued conglomerate of the Hapsburg Empire. While such a simple and monochromatic style might have failed a lesser craftsman, Roth brings the places and people of Mitteleuropa to life with his sweeping and Tolstoyian portraits.

`Collected Stories of Joseph Roth` falls far short of the standard set by `The Radetzsky March.` Compiled from Roth`s lesser-known pieces, this collection of stories, with a few exceptions, is disappointing. While slugging through one uninspired and undeveloped story after another, one feels that esteemed translator, Michael Hoffman, was picking from the bottom of the barrel when putting together this collection.

The main problem with these stories is their sketchy and unfinished quality. Sketches like, `The place I want to tell you about...,`or `This morning a letter arrived...,` throw the reader into unexplained situations with characters skeletal at best. In `The Cartel,` Roth experiments with territory out of the realm of his experience. A tale of elopement, `The Cartel` takes place in the United States, a world distinctly foreign to Roth's continental sensibilities. The Anglo-American characters stumble around and never convince. In `Youth,` Roth attempts an autobiographical sketch in the manner of Joyce's `Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.` While candid and charming in parts, with only eight spartan pages, `Youth` gives only a vague taste of what Roth's childhood might have been like.

A few of these stories do manage to reach completion. The collection's first story, `The Honors Student,` is one such example. In this psychological profile, narrator Roth tracks the painstaking, meticulous ways of the diligent gymnasium student, Anton Wackl. Singularly devoted to his studies, Anton earns the contempt of his fellow students and the esteem of his teachers. Anton's one-sided scholar's life soon devolves as he reaches adulthood. The harmless pedant grows into an immature and malicious adult who controls and manipulates his human relationships with the same passion he exhibited in his studies.

In `Career,` Roth expounds on one of his central themes: the importance of loyalty, in particular, loyalty to one's social betters: headmasters, bosses, generals, aristocrats or Franz Joseph himself (Roth was a fervent monarchist and supporter of the Old Regime). Fastidious accountant Gabriel Stieglecker plies his trade at various established finance houses until one day he is offered a significant pay raise by a newly arrived firm. Stieglecker is forced to choose between his loyalties and his ambitions. For Roth, the commercial and moral free-for-all of 1920`s Central Europe was abhorrent and Stieglecker`s painful moral dilemma mirrors Roth's own: to embrace the modern, self-seeking Europe or stand steadfast beside a value system doomed to oblivion.

Roth's longer stories fare much better in this collection. `Stationmaster Fallmerayer` is a well-crafted story of doomed romance. This stark love story between a lowly Austrian stationmaster and an aristocratic Russian countess opens with the lovers meeting during a horrific train accident. Yet, as the relationship progresses, the story gradually weakens. Stationmaster Fallmerayer and Countess Walewska enjoy an unfettered and happy courtship and subsequent marriage until one day, her husband (long thought missing in the Great War) shows up at their doorstep. While the ensuing ménage could have been developed into an intense crescendo, Roth simply ends the tale with Fallmerayer`s abrupt and unexplained disappearance. Plausible yes, but even this turn of events could have been fleshed out more. Such halting and arbitrary endings are all too common in many of these stories giving them a hurried quality.

`Collected Stories` does contain two fine pieces: `The Bust of the Emperor` and `Leviathan.` `The Bust of the Emperor` is Roth at his best, describing the final days of the Hapsburg Empire as seen through the eyes of one of its unflagging and doomed supporters. Count Franz Xaver Morstin is a `true Austrian` according to Roth, one loyal to a supranational `Austro-Hungarian` identity rather than to a narrow, ethnic, `tribal` heritage. Count Morstin is loyal to the Emperor and Empire alone rather than to his mixed Polish-Italian ancestry. Moreover, Morstin exhibits another quintessential Rothian value in that he treats those beneath him with a sense of noblesse oblige. Morstin is beloved on his Galician estates for exactly this: taking care of his underlings` needs. He intercedes when local boys are impressed into military service, keeps the taxes low, distributes money to the beggars, protects the Jewish merchants, mediates in all disputes and is one giant `godfather` to those under his patronage.

Yet, for Roth, Morstin`s most endearing and most `Austrian` trait is his loyalty to the Emperor, Franz Joseph, even when Emperor and Empire exist no more. Homeless and adrift, Morstin wanders post-Great War Europe horrified at the changes that have upended the old world and its values of loyalty and constancy in the face of crisis. Returning to his Galician lands which now belong to the new nation-state of Poland, Morstin neither accepts nor adapts to his new `homeland.` Dressed in his Austrian cavalry uniform, he travels his estates as if the Monarchy still existed. Moreover, in front of his manor house stands a bust of his beloved emperor. The count continues with this untenable delusion until the outside world finally intrudes and forces him to finally bury the past.

In `Bust of the Emperor` as in `Radetzsky March,` Roth brings to life a moribund Europe and those unfortunate souls trapped in its dying. Yet, with `Bust of the Emperor,` Roth interjects more of his personal insights than he did in `Radetzsky March.` Not only is Count Morstin Roth`s exemplar of true nobility, he is also a mouthpiece for the author as well. According to Morstin (Roth), nationalism is the disease that terminally weakened the body Hapsburg. Morstin longs for the days when,"...people in Tarnapol, Sarajevo, or Prague were all `Austrians` rather than part of the Ukrainian, Bosnian or Czech `nations.`" With an allusion to Hitler, Roth claims that nationalism found its most fervent adherents among those considered failures under the Empire's social hierarchy "...artistic painters insufficiently talented, disgruntled schoolteachers...all those who pressed fatuous claims to unlimited status within bourgeois society."

If the `Collected Stories' has one standout, then `Leviathan` would be it. It is the story of Nissen Piczenik who makes his livelihood selling tropical corals to the local peasant women in his forgotten corner of the Hapsburg Empire. Uneducated and devoid of skill save that of picking the finest crimson corals, Nissen is the most esteemed figure in his dusty, backwoods hometown. For him, corals are far more than decoration; with their blood-red color, they represent the purity of life itself. Yet, when a new peddler arrives in town with cheaper, artificial corals, Nissen is forced into a critical dilemma: join forces with his competitor or stay loyal to his beloved corals and thus suffer the inevitable consequences.

Nissen is the `Collected Stories` subtlest and most developed character, a virile, vital flesh and blood personage no doubt drawn from Roth's rural childhood. With considerable acumen, Roth exposes the myriad of conflicting forces that drive Nissen to his tragic end. Ignorant of the world outside his hometown, Nissen hungers for new experience, especially that of the sea, where he believes a giant `leviathan` sea monster guards the coral beds. Like Count Morstin, Nissen clutches to a dying world. Realizing that his corals, symbols of a purer, simpler world, are endangered by the artificial arrivals, Nissen refuses to compromise and thereby seals his fate.

Like his creations Morstin and Nissen, Roth was prisoner to a place and time whose day had long since passed. He refused to compromise with the crass and sinister world that had replaced his beloved Hapsburg Empire. As such, Joseph Roth was uniquely placed to pen the final days of a dying empire and the homeless children it begot. This is the Joseph Roth of `The Radetzsky March` and the better stories of this collection. And it is for these he should be remembered.