Literature & Literary Studies
Understanding Joseph Roth
by Sidney Rosenfeld
Description
A writer described as a “Jew in search of a fatherland” and a “wanderer in flight toward a tragic end,” the Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894–1939) spent his life in pursuit of a national and cultural identity and his final years writing in fervent opposition to the Third Reich. In this introduction to Roth’s novels, which include Job and The Radetzky March, Sidney Rosenfeld demonstrates how the experience of homelessness not only shaped Roth’s life but also decisively defined his body of work. Rosenfeld suggests that more than any other component of Roth’s varied fiction, his skillful portrayals of uprootedness and the search for home explain his international appeal.
More Information
Reviews
“Rosenfeld includes not only synopses of Roth’s numerous works but also a valuable biographical list, a nearly exhaustive bibliography, and a brilliant epilogue dealing with the enigma of Roth’s ambivalent attitude toward his Galician/Jewish background and his patriotism-engendered attraction to Catholicism.”—World Literature Today
Author Biography
Sidney Rosenfeld is professor emeritus of German at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. In addition to publishing articles on Joseph Roth, Jean Améry, Alfred Polgar, Karl Kraus, and Elias Canetti, he has translated, with his wife, Stella P. Rosenfeld, Améry's At the Mind's Limits and Radical Humanism, and the memoir collection Jewish Life in Germany.
The University of South Carolina Press
Established in 1944, the University of South Carolina Press is one of the oldest and most distinguished publishing houses in the South. With well over 1,000 books available in print and digital formats, and publishing approximately fifty new books annually, the Press enhances and expands the scholarly reputation and worldwide visibility of the University of South Carolina.In helping the University fulfill its mission of research and teaching and outreach, the Press publishes a wide range of critically acclaimed works in the following subjects: Southern History, African American Studies, Civil Rights, and South Carolina. In addition, the Press publishes long-running scholarly series in Literary Studies and Rhetoric/Communication. Our editorial profile aligns with several of the institutional strengths of the University and underscores the Press’s mission to serve teachers and learners and readers in the academy and the broader culture, both in North America and around the globe.
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher University of South Carolina Press
- Publication Date May 2020
- Orginal LanguageEnglish
- ISBN/Identifier 9781643361260 / 1643361260
- Publication Country or regionUnited States
- FormatPaperback
- Primary Price 19.99 USD
- Pages152
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- EditionFirst
- Copyright Year2020
- Dimensions9X6 inches
- SeriesUnderstanding Modern European and Latin American Literature
