Features

Nazi Literature in the Americas
by Roberto Bolaño
Picador
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This yarn-spinning, intricate set of potted biographies of imaginary writers, by the most recent foreign fiction phenomenon, reveals more about the convoluted past of his native continent – and the pathologies of fascism – than many full-scale histories. Mordantly funny and inventive writing from a real virtuoso.

The Master and Margarita
by Mikhail Bulgakov 
Penguin Classics
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Melding the mayhem caused when the Devil and his crew manifest themselves in Moscow and wreak havoc on state apparatchiks, with an account of Pontius Pilate’s interrogation of Jesus Christ, this is a stirring, anarchic and ultimately serene affirmation of freedom in the face of repression. A dangerous book to write in Soviet Russia, it could only be published long after Bulgakov’s death. 

I’m Off 
by Jean Echenoz
Vintage 
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A deftly satirical, elegant novel about a husband who walks out on his wife, I’m Off gracefully mocks the conventions of both the art-world heist thriller and the muddled manners of modern relationships. It’s pacy, full of wittily observed detail, and slyly humorous.

The Tin Drum
by Günter Grass
Vintage Classics
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The first work of fiction in translation that this reviewer read for pleasure, The Tin Drum is the story of maniac dwarf drummer Oskar Matzerath, set during the rise of Nazism. Its scope and ambition are astounding and it’s an essential novel for understanding the darkness and guilt that permeate modern German culture. 

A Void
by Georges Perec
Vintage classics
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A riddling, darkly comic book about disappearance and loss, that nowhere contains – even in its English rendering – a single letter ‘E’. It builds from this ostensibly absurd premise an ever-increasing sense of unease (pun intended). Look for ‘The Exeter Text’, too: a companion piece in which ‘E’ is the only vowel used. 

The Radetzky March
by Joseph Roth
Granta
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With characters whose charm and idiosyncrasy are never quite enough to free them from the constraints of the society in which they live, Roth’s masterpiece tenderly chronicles a family through three generations as the Austro-Hungarian Empire lurches towards collapse.