Publisher's Synopsis
Prusia Oriental, enero de 1945. Ha comenzado el éxodo de los alemanes que huyen hacia el oeste ante el avance del Ejército Rojo. En su camino, varios de ellos encontrarán refugio en Georgenhof, la privilegiada hacienda donde Katharina von Globig vive, en ausencia de su marido, con su hijo Peter y una tìa lejana que ejerce de ama de llaves metomentodo. Por la casa desfilarán personas de origen muy variopinto: una violinista nazi, un economista, un aristócrata báltico o incluso un prófugo judìo; cada uno de los testimonios de estos visitantes revela un punto de vista distinto sobre la guerra, el nazismo, el enemigo o el porvenir. En la hacienda resuenan asì las opiniones de los alemanes comunes sobre su propia historia mientras la tragedia se va cerniendo sobre la familia. Inédito en español hasta la fecha, Walter Kempowski es uno de los grandes escritores alemanes de la segunda mitad del siglo xx. Esta ambiciosa novela, publicada en 2006, se considera un hito literario por su exploración de un periodo de la historia alemana largamente silenciado en la literatura de este paìs. La rica panorámica de Kempowski retrata magistralmente, sin juicios y con rigor documental, el sufrimiento, las complicidades y las negaciones del pueblo alemán ante la caìda del Tercer Reich.
East Prussia, January 1945: the exodus of Germans fleeing west from the advance of the Red Army has begun and, along the path, some of them find shelter in Georgenhof, the sumptuous estate where Katharina von Globig lives, in the absence of her husband, with her son Peter and a distant and nosy aunt as a housekeeper. A procession of different people comes and goes as the Russians approach the town: a Nazi violinist, an economist, a Baltic aristocrat, and even a Jewish fugitive; and each one of these reveals a different side of the war, Nazism, the enemy or the future. The lives of ordinary Germans unfold along the pages exploring the reality of their own history while tragedy looms over the family. Unpublished in Spanish until now, Walter Kempowski is one of the great German writers of the second half of the 20th century. This ambitious novel is considered a literary landmark for its exploration of a period of history long silenced in German literature. Kempowski's rich panorama masterfully portrays, without trial and with documentary rigor, the suffering, complexities, and denials of the German people before the fall of the Third Reich.
East Prussia, January 1945: the exodus of Germans fleeing west from the advance of the Red Army has begun and, along the path, some of them find shelter in Georgenhof, the sumptuous estate where Katharina von Globig lives, in the absence of her husband, with her son Peter and a distant and nosy aunt as a housekeeper. A procession of different people comes and goes as the Russians approach the town: a Nazi violinist, an economist, a Baltic aristocrat, and even a Jewish fugitive; and each one of these reveals a different side of the war, Nazism, the enemy or the future. The lives of ordinary Germans unfold along the pages exploring the reality of their own history while tragedy looms over the family. Unpublished in Spanish until now, Walter Kempowski is one of the great German writers of the second half of the 20th century. This ambitious novel is considered a literary landmark for its exploration of a period of history long silenced in German literature. Kempowski's rich panorama masterfully portrays, without trial and with documentary rigor, the suffering, complexities, and denials of the German people before the fall of the Third Reich.
