by Joshua Cohen - undifferentiated
First published 2019
An unnamed narrator sits in a Paris hotel room, surrounded by years of autobiographical notes he hopes to transform into a novel. His memories cascade across fifty years of European history, from 1918 to 1968, weaving through the Jazz Age, the Nazi annexation of Austria, the Nuremberg trials, and postwar capitalism. At the heart of his struggle lies his relationship with Schwab, his editor and drinking companion who is slowly destroying himself with alcohol. The narrator sees himself as Cain to Schwab's Abel, consumed by guilt over betrayals both personal and professional. In the companion volume Cain, the narrator becomes Aristide Subics, though identities blur and shift as the story moves to bombed Hamburg in the immediate postwar years. The question haunts both volumes: who has truly betrayed whom? The deadly confrontation between these inseparable brothers continues across both books.
Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 21st-century
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Paris, Hamburg, Austria, Nuremberg
Period: 1918-1968
880 pages · Paperback · NYRB Classics
Content warnings: alcohol-abuse, depression