Books by Paul Nizan

The Conspiracy is the last and most acclaimed novel by French writer and activist Paul Nizan, who died two years after its publication fighting the Germans at the Battle of Dunkirk. Hailed by Jean-Paul Sartre as Nizan's masterpiece, the book centers upon the figure of Bertrand Rosenthal, a misguided philosophy student studying in pre-war Paris. Eager to foment a revolution and having little grasp of his own motives, Rosenthal draws a small group of disciples into a conspiracy both fatuous and deadly. Simultaneously, he plunges into a forbiddenand ultimately tragiclove affair as the intertwined plots move inexorably toward their twin destinations of betrayal and death.The Conspiracy won the coveted Prix Interalli in 1938. This new edition includes Walter Benjamin's critique of the book, available here for the first time in English.

"Sartre har kaldt Antoine Bloyé for „den smukkeste, den mest lyriske af alle begravelsestaler". Og romanen er en begravelsestale, hudløs og frygtindgydende ærlig, over den mand, hvis skygge falder ind over hele Nizans liv, hans far, en ingeniør ved de franske jernbaner, der efter et tilsyneladende vellykket liv pludselig havner i dyb krise og uden at efterlade sig nogen forklaringer tager sit eget liv. Antoine Bloyé er Nizans forsøg på på én gang at forstå og rense sig fra farens skæbne. Romanen er et monument over en forræder, der ikke blot har svigtet sin egen klasse, arbejdernes, men også det dybeste og dyrebareste i sig selv, kærligheden og sin egen skabende evne."Fra Carsten Jensens efterskrift