JOSEPH ROTH IN ENGLISH

 

 

 

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The White Cities, 2005 Joseph Roth's work has been appearing in English translation since 1930, the year of the first translation of Die Flucht ohne Ende (Flight Without End). Radetzkymarsch (The Radetzky March) alone has been translated at least three times into English, making it one of the most translated novels. The latest version, translated by Michael Hofmann, was published by Granta in November 2002. The publication in 1999 of Rebellion, the last of Roth's novels to be translated into English, marks the end of a seventy year process. Michael Hofmann, the son of the German novelist Gert Hofmann, is the latest and perhaps the definitive translator of Roth's work into English. Certainly, at no point has Roth's work been more widely read and enjoyed by English-speaking readers. In Britain, translations of Roth's fiction are published by Peter Owen and Granta.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of Roth's vast and richly varied journalistic output little has been translated, which is a shame given its value as a document of an epoch, not to mention its literary qualities. His non-fiction account of the Jews of Eastern Europe and their 'wanderings' across the world is, however, now available as a separate volume, published by Granta (UK) and Norton (USA). In February 2003, a selection of Roth's Berlin journalism appeared in English translation, and in 2004 a selection of his writing about France.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Bronsen's marvellous biography of Roth, first published in German in 1974, has in fact been translated into English, and was due to be published in the UK by Chatto in 2000. However, this publication in fact never took place, and unfortunately the book remains unavailable.

 

Currently Available (in USA and UK):

The Collected Shorter Fiction of Joseph Roth, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Granta Hardback, 2001)

What I Saw: Reports from Berlin 1920-1933, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Granta Hardback, 2003)

The White Cities: Reports from France 1925-1939, trans. by Michael Hoffmann (Granta Paperback, 2005)

The Spider's Web: and Zipper and his Father, trans. by John Hoare (Overlook Hardback, 1990)

Rebellion
, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Granta Paperback, 2000)

Rebellion
, trans. by Michael Hofmann (St. Martin's Press Hardback, 1999)

Hotel Savoy; Fallmerayer the Stationmaster; The Bust of the Emperor
, trans. by John Hoare (Overlook Hardback, 1986)

Hotel Savoy
, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Granta Paperback, 2000)

Flight without End
, trans. by David Le Vay (Peter Owen, 2000)

The Wandering Jews, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Norton Hardback, 2000)

The Wandering Jews, trans. by Michael Hoffmann (Granta Hardback/Paperback, 2001)

Right and Left
, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Granta Paperback, 1999)

Right and Left and The Legend of the Holy Drinker (Overlook Paperback, 1993)

The Silent Prophet
, trans. by David Le Vay (Peter Owen, 2002)

Job, the Story of a Simple Man, trans. by Dorothy Thompson (Granta Paperback, 2000)

The Radetzky March
, trans. by Eva Tucker and Geoffrey Dunlop (Overlook Paperback, 1983)

The Radetzky March
, trans. by Joachim Neugroschel (Penguin Modern Classics Paperback, 1995)

The Radetzky March
, trans. by Joachim Neugroschel (McKay & David Hardback, 1996)

The Radetzky March, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Granta Hardback, 2002)

Tarabas: A Guest on Earth
, trans. by Winifred Katzin (Overlook Paperback, 1989)

Confession of a Murderer: Told in One Night
, trans. by Desmond I. Vesey (Overlook Paperback, 1987)

Weights and Measures, trans. by David Le Vay (Peter Owen, 2002)

The Emperor's Tomb, trans. by John Hoare (Overlook, 1990)

The Emperor's Tomb
, trans. by John Hoare (Granta Paperback, 1999)

The String of Pearls
, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Granta Paperback, 1999)

The Tale of the 1002nd Night
, trans. by Michael Hofmann (St Martin's Press Paperback, 1999)

The Legend of the Holy Drinker
, trans. by Michael Hofmann (Granta Hardback, Oct. 2000)


Further information:

 

Anyone interested in a more comprehensive historical account of Roth's reception in the English-speaking world should consult the following sources:

Rainer-Joachim Siegel, Joseph Roth - Bibliographie (Morsum, Sylt: Cicero, 1995)

Helen Chambers, 'Die Rezeption Joseph Roths in Grossbritannien', in Joseph Roth: Interpretation - Kritik - Rezeption, ed. by Michael Kessler and Fritz Hackert (Tuebingen: Stauffenburg, 1990), pp. 65-76

Cathe Giffuni, 'Joseph Roth: an English Bibliography', in Co-Existent Contradictions: Joseph Roth in Retrospect, ed. by Helen Chambers (Riverside: Ariadne, 1991), pp. 215-240.

 

 

 

Cover to Confession of a Murder: Told in One Night

 

 

 

 

Cover to Right and Left and The Legend of the Holy Drinker (featuring image from 1988 film of the latter starring Rutger Hauer)

 

 

Cover to The Radetzky March (1996 edition)

 

 

Cover to The Tale of the 1002nd Night

 

 

Cover of The Silent Prophet, reissued 2002

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover to Hotel Savoy (1986)

 

 

British users can use this link to a searchbox, provided by Amazon.co.uk, which can be used to search for and order books by Joseph Roth: