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	This space is reserved for any news relating to the life and work of Joseph Roth - whether new research, exhibitions, editions or translations.
. May 2006: Now available: Jon Hughes, Facing Modernity: Fragmentation, Culture and Identity in Joseph Roth’s Writing in the 1920s, MHRA Texts & Dissertations Volume 67 and Bithell Series of Dissertations Volume 30 (Leeds: Maney, 2006). This is the first monograph on the work of Joseph Roth (1894-1939) to be published in English by a British-based academic, and should prove useful both to those with a specialized interest in Roth, whose novels and journalism continue to gain admirers around the world, and to those interested more broadly in an extraordinarily rich period in twentieth century European culture. It serves both as an introduction to the early part of a body of work whose variety and volume were for many years overshadowed by the reputation of the historical novel Radetzkymarsch (1932), and as a re-assessment of Roth's writing, both of fiction and of journalism, within the modern tradition. A perceived 'fragmentation' of social, political, cultural and other traditions was a particular concern for Roth, as for many contemporaries, and the thematic chapters present a detailed contextual survey of Roth's intense and often ambivalent engagement with aspects of modern life, including travel, gender, technology, the city, and cinema. Besides assessing the continuities and discontinuities in Roth's attitudes, these chapters examine how his responses to the contemporary world impact upon both the form and content of his writing. The author argues that Roth's writing of the 1920s should be considered modernist not just in its often prescient sensitivity to cultural and political developments, but in its employment of a formal aesthetics and narrative self-consciousness which eventually made possible the illusory 'wholeness' of the later fiction. 2005: Now available: 'Geschäft ist Geschäft. Seien Sie mir privat nicht böse. Ich brauche Geld.' Der Briefwechsel zwischen Joseph Roth und den Exilverlagen Allert de Lange und Querido 1933-1939 (Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 2005), ed. and introduced by Madeleine Rietra in collaboration with Rainer-Joachim Siegel. This volume presents, for the first time, the business correspondence between Joseph Roth and the Amsterdam publishers of the bulk of his exile publications (seven of the nine novels and novellas published between 1933 and his death in 1939). It is meticulously researched and fascinating. Essential reading for scholars of Roth, though perhaps not for casual readers. 2005: Now in English translation: Joseph Roth, The White Cities: Reports from France 1925-1939 (Granta). The titles is reference to Die weißen Städte (lit. The white towns), a semi-autobiographical account of a journey from Lyon to Marseille through the towns of Provence, inspired by a journey undertaken by Roth in 1925. March 7 2004: As part of Jewish Book Week, Michael Hofmann will be speaking at an afternoon event entitled 'The Genius of Joseph Roth', at the Royal National Hotel, Beford Way, London. March 2004: The Prague Writers Festival, which is taking place from 21 to 25 March 2004, will be themed around Joseph Roth's life and work. The festival has been given the (slightly silly) name: 'Joseph Roth - I don't know where I am going'. Speakers will include Michael Hofmann, Nadine Gordimer, and Hans Magnus Enzensberger. January 2004: Granta have reissued Confession of a Murderer, translated by Desmond Vesey. October 2003: A one-day workshop on Joseph Roth will take place on 24 June 2004 at the Institute of Germanic Studies in London. The event is being co-organised by myself and colleagues from the Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature, with support from the Institute and the London Jewish Cultural Centre, and is entitled: 'Joseph Roth - Revisited or Reinvented? The Reception of Joseph Roth's Work in Britain.' We hope to bring together an invited selection of renowned scholars, publishers, translators, literary critics and readers for a day of short papers and discussion. For more information e-mail me, Jon Hughes (jon.hughes@rhul.ac.uk), or see the above links. July 2003: Joseph Roth now has a Berlin café named in his honour. The Joseph Roth Diele is located on Potsdamer Strasse 75, 10785 Berlin, and is open from 10am till 12 midnight Monday to Friday. As well as food and drink, this literary cafe offers a cultural programme of music and performance, and a gallery of Roth-inspired artworks by Liebhard Zimmer. Worth a visit! February 2003: Michael Hofmann has an article in Granta, in which he considers Roth's work as a journalist in the 1920s, and his relationship to Berlin in particular.   February 2003: Granta and Norton have published Michael Hofmann’s translation of a selection of Roth’s journalism first made by Michael Bienert for Joseph Roth in Berlin: ein Lesebuch für Spaziergänger (Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1996). The edition dispenses with Bienert's introductory material intended to establish the text as a sort of literary guidebook to the city, but retains his choice of articles. It is entitled What I Saw: Reports from Berlin 1920-1933, in reference to the 1921 article 'Spaziergang', which may be understood as a programmatic statement of Roth's journalistic credo, with its refrain-like repetition of 'Was ich sehe, ist...'. As the title suggests, the volume focuses on Roth’s often-ambivalent evocation of Berlin, and the edition includes translations of many of Roth’s best Feuilletons from the period. This is an extremely valuable addition to the available translations, which, The Wandering Jews aside, have until now concentrated on Roth’s fiction. This edition, which has been warmly received in the British press, should hopefully begin to redress the imbalance in Roth’s reception in the English-speaking world. It is to be hoped that we will soon see translations of the range of Roth’s non-fiction, and in particular the wonderful accounts of his travels in France, the Soviet Union, and in Germany and Austria. January 2003: Kiepenheuer & Witsch have announced the next addition to their excellent series of paperback anthologies of Roth’s journalism, to be published in 2003. Die Filiale der Hölle auf Erden: Schriften aus der Emigration collectes Roth’s political, anti-fascist writing in his period of exile (1933-1939). It is edited by Helmut Peschina, who previously edited Kaffeehausfrühling, the collection of Roth’s Vienna journalism published in 2001. Note also that two of Roth’s late novellas, Die Legende vom heiligen Trinker, and Der Leviathan are to be issued in a single budget-priced volume, as part of the series ‘Große Autoren zum Greifen nah’, jointly published by Fischer, Kiepenheur & Witsch, and Rowohlt. The book will cost only  1! Many thanks again to Rainer-Joachim Siegel for the update. January 2003: Radetzkymarsch forms part of a 20 volume set of 'canonical' modern German novels selected by the legendary German literary critic and broadcaster Marcel Reich-Ranicki. Other novels selected include Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks, Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz, Franz Kafka's Der Proceß, and Günter Grass's Die Blechtrommel. Further details are available on the website of 'Der Kanon'. January 2003: A hundred users of this website have thus far voted in the poll, which asked readers of Joseph Roth for their favourite title. The results are to an extent exactly what one would have expected, with Radetzkymarsch in first place with 29% of votes, Hiob (Job) in second place with 21%, and Die Kapuzinergruft (The Emperor's Tomb) some distance back in third place with 10% of the votes. Die Legende vom heiligen Trinker polled 9%, as did the most popular of Roth's earlier novels from the 1920s, Die Flucht ohne Ende. 7% voted for Die Rebellion, 5% for Die Geschichte von der 1002. Nacht (The String of Pearls), and only 3%, somewhat surprisingly, for Hotel Savoy. Roth's non-fiction essay Juden auf Wanderschaft was voted for by only 2%. 5% voted for 'other' texts, not included in the poll. The results reflect both the continuing popularity of the later, historical and to an extent sentimental texts, and, I suspect, the greater availability and reception of the these texts in the English-speaking world in particular. The poll will remain on the site. It remains to be be seen whether these statistics will shift substantially over time. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to vote!
		December 2002: Michael Hofmann has an essay in the latest issue of Granta magazine, in which he considers the special place of Radetzkymarsch amongst Roth's works. September 2002: On November 18 2002, Granta's new English edition of The Radetzky March, translated by Michael Hofmann, will be launched at the Austrian Cultural Forum in London. The launch starts at 7pm, and more details and tickets are available from the ACF.
		August 2002: After a slight delay Peter Owen Books will be publishing The Silent Prophet, translated by David Le Vay, in September 2002. Belatedly, I should note that in January Peter Owen also published David Le Vay's translation of Das falsche Gewicht (Weights and Measures), Roth's 1937 novel about the tribulations of an Inspector of Weights and Measures whose own life is, ironically, well out of balance. Many thanks to Daniel McCabe of Peter Owen for the update on their publishing programme. June 2002: For anyone interested in Roth's activities as a film reviewer during the 1920s, I have an article in a new volume of essays by members of the British Conference of University Teachers of German. Full reference: Jon Hughes, '"Ein neuer Weg des Films": Joseph Roth's Reviews of Documentary Films', in Millennial Essays on Film and Other German Studies, ed. by Daniela Berghahn and Alan Bance (Oxford, Berne: Lang, 2002), pp. 11-22. November 2001: Peter Owen have reissued the English version of Roth's unfinished 1929 novel The Silent Prophet, translated by David Le Vay. The novel was initially prompted by the life of Leon Trotzky, and includes characters loosely based on Stalin and significant players in the early Soviet Union, such as Karl Radek. An essential addition to the available texts in English. October 2001: Granta Books will publish The Collected Shorter Fiction of Joseph Roth on 1 November 2001. June 2001: American publisher Norton will publish The Collected Stories of Joseph Roth in 2002. May 2001: I'm informed that a film version of Hotel Savoy, to be directed by the Hungarian Istvan Szabo, is planned. Szabo seems an appropriate choice, having previously adapted Klaus Mann's Mephisto for the big screen. His other films explore the complexities of Jewish identity, the relationship between Austria and Eastern Europe, and the psychology of themilitary. Particularly notable are Oberst Redl and, more recently, Sunshine. Kiepenheuer & Witsch are to publish another collection of Roth's articles, this time from his time, early in his career, working for Viennese newspapers such as Der Neue Tag. Kaffeehaus-Frühling: Ein Wien-Lesebuch is edited by Helmut Peschina and is due to be published in May 2001. Many thanks to Rainer-Joachim Siegel for informing me. The German TV channel 3Sat will be showing Michael Kehlmann's 1981 film adaptation of Roth's novel Tarabas in two parts on Sunday 11 March 2001, 11:05 am, and Sunday 18 March, 11:15 am. The film stars Helmut Lohner as the eponymous hero.
		The English translation of David Bronsen's biography of Roth, apparently published in 1999 (see below), now appears to be unavailable. Searches on most databases of books in print come up blank. Thanks to Ian McKechnie for alerting me to this. If anyone knows where the book may still be ordered from please let me know!
				American publishing house Norton is due to publish Michael Hofmann's translation of Juden auf Wandershaft, Roth's 1927 essay on the traditions of the Jews of Eastern Europe and their wanderings. The Wandering Jews is published in hardcover in November 2000
		October 26 2000: Granta are are set to publish the latest instalments in their series of translations of Roth's texts: Job, the Story of a Simple Man. In paperback, translated by Dorothy Thompson. And The Legend of the Holy Drinker. Hardback, translated by Michael Hofmann.
		August 2000: Dietmar Mehrens has published a new work concerned with religion in Roth's work, entitled Vom goettlichen Auftrag der Literatur: Die Romane Joseph Roths - ein Kommentar (Hamburg: Libri BoD, 2000). With a foreword by Helmuth Nuernberger. Mehrens analyses each of Roth's 16 novels in turn. Katharina Ochse, editor of an edition of Joseph Roth's writing on France last year (Im Bistro nach Mitternacht: ein Frankreich-Lesebuch (Cologne: Kiepenheur & Witsch, 1999) is the latest German scholar to have published her dissertation on Roth. Her book is entitled Joseph Roths Auseinandersetzung mit dem Antisemitismus (Wuerzburg: Koenigshausen & Neumann, 1999) I have an article in the April German Life & Letters. The details are: Jon Hughes, 'Violence, Masculinity and Self: Killing in Joseph Roth's 1920s Fiction', GLL, 53 (2000), 216-230 [ABSTRACT] David Bronsen's biography of Joseph Roth is now available in English. Whether there is yet a market for it remains to be seen, but as it coincides with Granta's handsome series of Roth translations a few should be sold. David Bronsen, Life of Joseph Roth, Chatto 1999 Michael Hofmann was awarded the 1999 PEN/Book of the Month Club Translation Prize for his translation of  Die Geschichte von der 1002. Nacht. See the PEN website for more details. Kiepenheuer & Witsch have recently isssued Juden auf Wanderschaft as a single paperback volume, and Granta plan to publish it in translation next year as The Wandering Jews. Granta plan to publish new editions of both Hiob (Job) and Flucht ohne Ende (Flight without End) this year (2000).