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""Those familiar with this particular date in history might feel as if they already know the story of the day Hitler committed suicide, but Kluge weaves a tale of all the events large and small that occurred concurrently. From the momentous political occasions to small tragedies, the examination of one single day demonstrates compellingly how the effects of war radiate out from the big players.""-- ""World Literature Today"" ""Uncompromisingly experimental and resistant to the shaping power of narrative. Kluge creates from the fragments of history the chronicle of a single day. . . . Interspersed with lyrical interludes by the poet Reinhard Jirgl, Kluge's episodic tapestry allows the reader to appreciate the diverse responses to the imminent collapse of the Reich. . . . Kluge's 'mosaic of time' shows the endpoint, but also the blossoming of new beginnings.""-- ""Times Literary Supplement"" ""Readers familiar with how Hitler committed suicide on the last day of April 1945 will find that story enmeshed here in a dense tangle of plots playing out on the same fateful day. In this fractured polynarrative, gifted novelist Alexander Kluge depicts the travails of the famous (Martin Heiddegger, Ezra Pound, Thomas Mann) and the anonymous (refugees, scavengers, merchants). . . . A compelling translation of a vertiginous descent into a world-shaping cataclysm.""--Booklist ""starred review""

Alexander Kluge is one of the major German fiction writers of the late-twentieth century and an important social critic. As a filmmaker, he is credited with the launch of the New German Cinema movement. Wieland Hoban is a British composer who lives in Germany. He has translated several works from German, including several by Theodor W. Adorno.

Readers familiar with how Hitler committed suicide on the last day of April 1945 will find that story enmeshed here in a dense tangle of plots playing out on the same fateful day. In this fractured polynarrative, gifted novelist Alexander Kluge depicts the travails of the famous (Martin Heiddegger, Ezra Pound, Thomas Mann) and the anonymous (refugees, scavengers, merchants). . . . A compelling translation of a vertiginous descent into a world-shaping cataclysm. --Booklist starred review

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Alexander Kluge is one of the major German fiction writers of the late-twentieth century and an important social critic. As a filmmaker, he is credited with the launch of the New German Cinema movement. Wieland Hoban is a British composer who lives in Germany. He has translated several works from German, including several by Theodor W. Adorno.

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