In Friedrich Durrenmatt's experimental thriller "The Assignment,"
the wife of a psychiatrist has been raped and killed near a desert
ruin in North Africa. Her husband hires a woman named F. to
reconstruct the unsolved crime in a documentary film. F. is soon
unwittingly thrust into a paranoid world of international espionage
where everyone is watched--including the watchers. After
discovering a recent photograph of the supposed murder victim
happily reunited with her husband, F. becomes trapped in an
apocalyptic landscape riddled with political intrigue, crimes of
mistaken identity, and terrorism.
F.'s labyrinthine quest for the truth is Durrenmatt's fictionalized
warning against the dangers of a technologically advanced society
that turns everyday life into one of constant scrutiny. Joel Agee's
elegant translation will introduce a fresh generation of
English-speaking readers to one of European literature's masters of
language, suspense, and dystopia.
"The narrative is accelerated from the start. . . . As the novella
builds to its horripilating climax, we realize the extent to which
all values have thereby been inverted. "The Assignment "is a
parable of hell for an age consumed by images."--"New York Times
Book Review"
"His most ambitious book . . . dark and devious . . . almost
obsessively drawn to mankind's most fiendish crimes."--"Chicago""
Tribune"
" "
"A tour-de-force . . . mesmerizing."--"Village Voice"""
General
Imprint: |
University of Chicago Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
October 2008 |
First published: |
October 2008 |
Authors: |
Friedrich Durrenmatt
|
Dimensions: |
144 x 211 x 9mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
152 |
Edition: |
Revised ed. |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-226-17446-4 |
Categories: |
Books >
Fiction >
General
Promotions
|
LSN: |
0-226-17446-8 |
Barcode: |
9780226174464 |
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