Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Jacob the Liar: A Novel--50th Anniversary Edition

Jacob the Liar: A Novel--50th Anniversary Edition

Becker, Jurek
Vennewitz, Leila
Begley, Louis

Paperback

General FictionLiterary Fiction

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 1951627040
ISBN13: 9781951627041
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
Published: Feb 2 2021
Pages: 264
Weight: 0.50
Height: 0.70 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.20
Language: English
​One of the most remarkable novels of the Holocaust ever written, and the basis of the 1999 major motion picture starring Robin Williams.

A novel about the Holocaust that has never been surpassed (Times Literary Supplement), Jacob the Liar is a now classic work from one of the giants of German postwar literature and a tale of everyday heroism and the extraordinary power of illusion.

In the ghetto, possession of a radio is punishable by death. Like thousands of his fellow prisoners, Jacob Heym is cut off from all news of the war--until he is arrested one evening and brought to the German military office, where he overhears a report of the Red Army's advance to a city some 300 miles away. Miraculously, he is allowed to return to his quarters, but when he tries to spread the good news, the only way to make people believe him is to tell a lie: How do I know? I have a radio. One lie leads to another, and before long Jacob finds himself feeding the entire ghetto fabricated news reports of the Russians' advance--reports that save lives by giving people renewed hope. So Jacob is a hero and a liar. But how much longer can his web of lies hold?

Told with suspense and humor, here is a masterful tale of hope, desire, and the life-giving force of fiction. Awarded Germany's prestigious Heinrich Mann Prize for fiction and in a new translation by Leila Vennewitz, Jacob the Liar is a masterpiece of Kafkaesque comedy which unfolds with the impact of a timeless folk legend. This edition includes a new afterword by Louis Begley.

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