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3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Our Philosopher

Our Philosopher

Paperback

General FictionHistorical Fiction

Publisher Price: $15.95

ISBN10: 1681377586
ISBN13: 9781681377582
Publisher: New York Review of Books
Published: Sep 26 2023
Pages: 176
Weight: 0.40
Height: 0.60 Width: 5.10 Depth: 8.10
Language: English
A powerful novel about prejudice, violence, and complicity in Nazi Germany, this spare and evocative work interrogates shows how a group of people can slip towards extremism and barbarity in the blink of an eye.

The time is the 1930s. Our philosopher is Herr Veilchenfeld, a renowned thinker and distinguished professor, who, after his sudden dismissal from the university, has retired to live quietly in a country town in the east of Germany. Our narrator is Hans, a clever and inquisitive boy. He relates a mix of things he witnesses himself and things he hears about from his father, the town doctor, who sees all sorts of people as he makes his rounds, even Veilchenfeld, with his troubled heart. Veilchenfeld is in decline, it's true--he keeps ever more to himself--but the town is in ever better shape. After the defeat of the Great War and the subsequent years of poverty, things are looking up. The old, worn people are heartened to see it. The young are exhilarated. It is up to them to promote and patrol this new uplifting reality--to make it safe from the likes of Veilchenfeld, whose very existence is an affront to it. And so the doctor listens, and young Hans looks on.

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Historical Fiction