The Capital

THE PRIZE-WINNING SATIRICAL BESTSELLER FROM THE ACCLAIMED ROBERT MENASSE MORE THAN 500,000 COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE A "HOUSE OF CARDS" FOR THE EU This is the tale of a continent, a city and its inhabitants as they navigate their way through the confusing tangle of 21st-century life. The Capital is a brilliantly entertaining satire, a crime story, a comedy of manners . . . and a wild pig chase. 
"First-class satire" Guardian"
"Mischievous yet profound" Economist
"A deliciously vicious and timely satire" Financial Times
"Thoroughly entertaining" Spectator
"A romp" Politico 
************************************* Brussels. A hive of tragic heroes, manipulative losers, involuntary accomplices. No wonder the European Commission is keen to improve its image.
The fiftieth anniversary of the European Commission approaches, and the Directorate-General for Culture is tasked with organising an appropriate celebration. When Fenia Xenopoulou's assistant comes up with a plan to put Auschwitz at the very centre of the jubilee, she is delighted. But she has neglected to take the other E.U. institutions into account.
Meanwhile the city is on the lookout for a runaway pig. And what about the farmers who take to the streets to protest against restrictions blocking the export of pigs to China?
************************************** See what the critics are saying about The Capital:
"Omniscient" New York Times "An exceptional work" Kirkus Reviews "Deliciously witty" Metro "Elegant... brilliantly constructed" Die Zeit "Robert Menasse is pioneering the genre of Eurolit" Financial Times WINNER OF THE GERMAN BOOK PRIZE 2017

Literature & Fiction

Menasse, Robert

Humor & Satire

MacLehose Press

In 2010, Robert Menasse journeyed to Brussels to begin work on a novel centered on the European Union. His extended stay resulted in a completely different book—Enraged Citizens, European Peace and Democratic Deficits, a work of nonfiction examining the history of the European project and the evolving politics of nation-states. Spanning from the beginning of the transnational idea with 1951’s Montanunion—the European Coal and Steel Community—to the current financial crisis, Menasse focuses on the institutional structures and forces both advancing and obstructing the European project. Given the internal tensions among the European Commission, Parliament, and Council, Menasse argues that current problems that are frequently misunderstood as resulting from the financial crisis are, in fact, political. Along the way, he makes the bold claim that either the Europe of nation-states will perish—or the project of transcending the nation-states will. A provocative book, Enraged Citizens, European Peace and Democratic Deficits deftly analyzes the financial and bureaucratic structures of the European Union and sheds much-needed light on the state of the debt crisis. Menasse brings his considerable literary expertise to the unraveling of the real state of the Union, along the way weaving an intriguing tale of one continent’s efforts to become a truly postnational democracy.

Enraged Citizens, European Peace and Democratic Deficits: Or Why the Democracy Given to Us Must Become One We Fight For (The German List)

Business & Money

International

Seagull Books

Robert Menasse, who was born into a Jewish family in Vienna in 1954, speaks with the voice of the generation known as Nachgeborene ('those born after'). Although fortunate to have escaped the persecution and exile his parents endured, Menasse's stories constantly refract the suffering of the past through the ironic distance of a feeling observer. His critically humorous voice uncovers surprising truths about himself and the past. As the author of over twenty books, which include critical essays on contemporary cultural topics as well as novels and short stories, Menasse's fame as a major figure in contemporary Austrian literature is firmly established. He has received many prestigious literary prizes and divides his time between Vienna and Amsterdam.-- Thomas Hansen is professor of German at Wellesley College (Wellesley, Massachusetts). Abby Hansen is a free-lance writer and translator. Together they specialize in translating modern German and Austrian literature.

Everyone Can Say I: Tales from the End of the Post-war Era (Studies in Austrian Literature, Culture, and Thought)

History & Criticism

Ariadne Pr

One of Time's "Must-Read Books of 2019" One of Vanity Fair's Best Books of the Year, So Far A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection
Winner of the German Book Prize, The Capital is an “omniscient, almost Balzac-ian” (Steven Erlanger, New York Times) panorama of splintered Europe. A highly inventive novel of ideas written in the rich European tradition, The Capital transports readers to the cobblestoned streets of twenty-first-century Brussels. Chosen as the European Union’s symbolic capital in 1958, this elusive setting has never been examined so intricately in literature. Translated with "zest, pace and wit" (Spectator) by Jamie Bulloch, Robert Menasse's The Capital plays out the effects of a fiercely nationalistic “union.” Recalling the Balzacian conceit of assembling a vast parade of characters whose lives conspire to form a driving central plot, Menasse adapts this technique with modern sensibility to reveal the hastily assembled capital in all of its eccentricities. We meet, among others, Fenia Xenopoulou, a Greek Cypriot recently “promoted” to the Directorate-General for Culture. When tasked with revamping the boring image of the European Commission with the Big Jubilee Project, she endorses her Austrian assistant Martin Sussman’s idea to proclaim Auschwitz as its birthplace―of course, to the horror of the other nation states. Meanwhile, Inspector Émile Brunfaut attempts to solve a gritty murder being suppressed at the highest level; Matek, a Polish hitman who regrets having never become a priest, scrambles after taking out the wrong man; and outraged pig farmers protest trade restrictions as a brave escapee squeals through the streets. These narratives and more are masterfully woven, revealing the absurdities―and real dangers―of a fracturing Europe. A tour de force from one of Austria’s most esteemed novelists, The Capital is a mordantly funny and piercingly urgent saga of the European Union, and an aerial feat of sublime world literature.

The Capital: A Novel

Literary

Liveright

“A dark comedy of manners packed with urgency” (H. W. Vail, Vanity Fair), The Capital is an instant classic of world literature. A highly inventive novel of ideas written in the rich European tradition, The Capital transports readers to the cobblestoned streets of twenty-first-century Brussels. Chosen as the European Union’s symbolic capital in 1958, this elusive setting has never been examined so intricately in literature. Translated with "zest, pace and wit" (Spectator) by Jamie Bulloch, Robert Menasse's The Capital plays out the effects of a fiercely nationalistic “union.”\nRecalling the Balzacian conceit of assembling a vast parade of characters whose lives conspire to form a driving central plot, Menasse adapts this technique with modern sensibility to reveal the hastily assembled capital in all of its eccentricities. We meet, among others, Fenia Xenopoulou, a Greek Cypriot recently “promoted” to the Directorate-General for Culture. When tasked with revamping the boring image of the European Commission with the Big Jubilee Project, she endorses her Austrian assistant Martin Sussman’s idea to proclaim Auschwitz as its birthplace―of course, to the horror of the other nation states. Meanwhile, Inspector Émile Brunfaut attempts to solve a gritty murder being suppressed at the highest level; Matek, a Polish hitman who regrets having never become a priest, scrambles after taking out the wrong man; and outraged pig farmers protest trade restrictions as a brave escapee squeals through the streets.\nThese narratives and more are masterfully woven, revealing the absurdities―and real dangers―of a fracturing Europe. A tour de force from one of Austria’s most esteemed novelists, The Capital is a mordantly funny and piercingly urgent saga of the European Union, and an aerial feat of sublime world literature.

Set on capturing the elusive inner workings of the European Union, Robert Menasse, one of Austria's most creative thinkers, moved to the EU's headquarters in Brussels for an enthralling, wine-soaked tour of supranational institutions. The resulting novel has become an international sensation, translated from German into more than twenty languages and deemed "the first great EU novel" (Politico). At the heart of a cast as diverse as the union itself is Fenia Xenapoulou, a Greek Cypriot recently "promoted" to the Department of Culture, who hopes to revamp the European Commission's image by proclaiming Auschwitz as its birthplace with the "Big Jubilee Project." Other tragic heroes, clever schemers, and involuntary accomplices are intricately woven, revealing the absurdities-and real dangers-of a fiercely nationalistic "union." Mordantly funny and piercingly urgent, The Capital, the winner of Germany's highest fiction prize, is an "elegantly written, beautifully constructed" (Die Zeit) feat of world literature.

Highbridge Co

Tout commence dans le quartier Sainte-Catherine Bruxelles, prs de l'htel Atlas, o un cochon en libert fait soudain irruption, bousculant tout sur son passage. Un chantillon d'Europens d'aujourd'hui, dont les destins vont se croiser par la suite, sont les tmoins mduss de cet vnement incongru. La Capitale, Prix du Livre allemand 2017, est d'abord une satire savoureuse des travers des institutions europennes. Robert Menasse atteint des sommets de drlerie comparables ceux de "l'Action parallle" dans L'Homme sans qualits de Musil quand il dpeint une fonctionnaire europenne mortellement humilie par sa mutation la Direction gnrale de la culture - secteur sans avenir ni prestige -, quand il dcrit la manire dont la presse transforme l'affaire du cochon en feuilleton scandale, ou quand il voque les vains prparatifs d'un vnement culturel cens restaurer dans l'opinion le prestige de la Commission europenne. Mais ce grand livre o se mlent roman d'espionnage et roman policier, travers l'hallucinante enqute sur un mystrieux assassinat, est aussi un acte de foi dans la lgitimit politique de l'Europe et un rappel nergique de ce qui la fonde. Les deux derniers mots du livre prennent alors tout leur sens : " suivre".

La capitale

VERDIER

Der Europäische Landbote (German Edition)

Verlag Herder GmbH

' Trilogie der Entgeisterung'.

Suhrkamp

Das Land ohne Eigenschaften. Essay zur österreichischen Identität.

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Books by Menasse, Robert

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Menasse, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Capital

Enraged Citizens, European Peace and Democratic Deficits: Or Why the Democracy Given to Us Must Become One We Fight For (The German List)

Everyone Can Say I: Tales from the End of the Post-war Era (Studies in Austrian Literature, Culture, and Thought)

The Capital: A Novel

The Capital: A Novel

The Capital

La capitale

Der Europäische Landbote (German Edition)

' Trilogie der Entgeisterung'.

Das Land ohne Eigenschaften. Essay zur österreichischen Identität.