Georg Letham

Physician and Murderer

Fiction & Literature, Literary
Cover of the book Georg Letham by Ernst Weiss, Steerforth Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ernst Weiss ISBN: 9780982624654
Publisher: Steerforth Press Publication: February 1, 2010
Imprint: Archipelago Language: English
Author: Ernst Weiss
ISBN: 9780982624654
Publisher: Steerforth Press
Publication: February 1, 2010
Imprint: Archipelago
Language: English

First published in 1931 and now appearing for the first time in English, Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer is a disquieting anatomy of a deviant mind in the tradition of Crime and Punishment. Letham, the treacherously unreliable narrator, is a depraved bacteriologist whose murder of his wife is, characteristically, both instinctual and premeditated. Convicted and exiled, he attempts to atone for his crimes through science, conceiving of the book we are reading as an empirical report on himself—whose ultimate purpose may be to substitute for a conscience. Yet Letham can neither understand nor master himself. His crimes are crimes of passion, and his passions remain more or less untouched by his reason—in fact they are constantly intruding on his "report," rigorous as it is intended to be. Both feverish and chilling, Georg Letham explores the limits of reason and the tensions between objectivity and subjectivity. Moving from an unnamed Central European city to arctic ice floes to a tropical island prison, this layered novel—with its often grotesquely comic tone and arresting images—invites us into the darkest chambers of the human psyche.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

First published in 1931 and now appearing for the first time in English, Georg Letham: Physician and Murderer is a disquieting anatomy of a deviant mind in the tradition of Crime and Punishment. Letham, the treacherously unreliable narrator, is a depraved bacteriologist whose murder of his wife is, characteristically, both instinctual and premeditated. Convicted and exiled, he attempts to atone for his crimes through science, conceiving of the book we are reading as an empirical report on himself—whose ultimate purpose may be to substitute for a conscience. Yet Letham can neither understand nor master himself. His crimes are crimes of passion, and his passions remain more or less untouched by his reason—in fact they are constantly intruding on his "report," rigorous as it is intended to be. Both feverish and chilling, Georg Letham explores the limits of reason and the tensions between objectivity and subjectivity. Moving from an unnamed Central European city to arctic ice floes to a tropical island prison, this layered novel—with its often grotesquely comic tone and arresting images—invites us into the darkest chambers of the human psyche.

More books from Steerforth Press

Cover of the book The Boy Who Stole Attila's Horse by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book The Third Tower by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book Pockety by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book Red Love by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book I Was Behind You by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book Young Gerber by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book After Dachau by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book Auguste Rodin by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book The Holy by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book The Paradiso Files by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book History by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book Rilke in Paris by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book The Execution of Justice by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book All That I Have by Ernst Weiss
Cover of the book Apostle Paul by Ernst Weiss
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy