First published in 1954, Koeppen's novel is a genuine lost classic, a penetrating examination of the angst, anguish and anger that infected Germany after WWII. The novel's vehicle for exploration is a clan living in postwar exile in Rome that pushes the definition of an extended family to its limits. The group consists of elder statesman Gottlieb Judejahn, a former high-ranking SS officer; his brother-in-law Friedrich Pfaffrath, who also held Nazi office; and their respective sons, Adolf Judejahn, a Catholic priest, and Siegfried Pfaffrath, a composer of serial music. According to Hofmann's excellent introduction, "these four represent the four principal areas of German achievement, or the four quarters of the riven German soul: murder, bureaucracy, theology and music." As both archetypes and individuals, they provide Koeppen with fertile ground for his extended meditations on war, art, religion and the transformations that affected both German society and the world immediately before and during WWII. The family members rarely interact with one another, but there are several significant scenes when their paths cross, most notably during a concert featuring Siegfried's work and when both Gottlieb and Adolph Judejahn pursue a Jewish barmaid named Laura who works in a gay Roman bar. The rich reservoir of Roman history (in which Germans have had a presence since Alaric the Goth) serves as a perfect backdrop for Koeppen's observations, and the fate of Gottlieb Judejahn as he pursues the barmaid is perhaps the ultimate metaphor for the postwar fate of the Nazis. This startling title shows Koeppen to be every inch Gunter Grass's equal in analyzing the intellectual side of Germany's rise and fall, and richly deserves a new level of visibility.
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