Books by Anna Seghers

INTRODUCED BY STUART EVERS: 'A genuine, fully fledged masterpiece of the twentieth century; one that remains just as terrifyingly relevant and truthful in the twenty-first'An existential, political, literary thriller first published in 1944, Transit explores the plight of the refugee with extraordinary compassion and insight. Having escaped from a Nazi concentration camp in Germany and a work camp in Rouen, the nameless narrator finds himself in the dusty seaport of Marseille. Along the way he was asked to deliver a letter to Weidel, a writer in Paris whom he discovered had killed himself as the Nazis entered the city. Now he is in search of the dead man's wife. He carries Weidel's suitcase, which contains an unfinished novel - and a letter securing Weidel a visa to escape France.Assuming the name Seidler - though the authorities think he is in fact Weidel - he goes from cafe to cafe looking for Marie, who is in turn anxiously searching for her husband. As Seidler converses with refugees over pizza and wine, their stories gradually break down his ennui, bringing him a deeper awareness of the transitory world they inhabit as they wait and wait for that most precious of possessions: transit papers.'This novel, completed in 1942, is in my opinion the most beautiful Seghers has written . . . almost flawless' - Heinrich Boll

A new translation of the best and most provocative short stories by the author of Transit and The Seventh Cross.Best known for her anti-fascist novels such as The Seventh Cross and the existential thriller Transit, Anna Seghers was also a gifted storyteller. The short stories she wrote throughout her life portray her social and mythic vision, and constitute an important and fascinating element of her work. This selection of Seghers's best stories, written between 1925 and 1965, reflects the range of her creativity over the years and includes her most famous stories, such as the autobiographical "Dead Girls' Class Trip" (1946), as well as those translated into English for the first time, like "Jans Must Die" (1925). Here are psychologically penetrating stories about young men corrupted by desperation, women bound by circumstance, as well as enigmatic tales of bewilderment and enchantment, stories based on myths and legends like "The Best Tales of Woynok the Thief" (1938), "The Legends of Artemis" (1938), and "The Three Trees" (1940). Seghers used the German language in especially unconventional and challenging ways in her stories, and Margot Bettauer Dembo's sensitive and skilled translation preserves this distinction.