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Pollak's Arm
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Check link for latest rating. ( 336 ratings, 75 reviews)
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Pollak's Arm
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?
Ideal for readers interested in historical fiction, art history, and World War II narratives, as well as those drawn to stories exploring the resilience of culture under threat.
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Description
Enthralling ... A great read. - Philippe de Montebello, former director, Metropolitan Museum of Art
October 16, 1943, inside the Vatican as darkness descends upon Rome. Having been alerted to the Nazi plan to round up the city's Jewish population the next day, Monsignor F. dispatches an envoy to a nearby palazzo to bring Ludwig Pollak and his family to safety within the papal premises. But Pollak shows himself in no hurry to leave his home and accept the eleventh-hour offer of refuge.
Pollak's visitor is obliged to take a seat and listen as he recounts his life story: how he studied archaeology in Prague, his passion for Italy and Goethe, how he became a renowned antiquities dealer and advisor to great collectors like J. P. Morgan and the Austro-Hungarian emperor after his own Jewishness barred him from an academic career, and finally his spectacular discovery of the missing arm from the majestic ancient sculpture of Laocoön and his sons.
Torn between hearing Pollak's spellbinding tale and the urgent mission to save the archaeologist from certain annihilation, the Vatican's anxious messenger presses him to make haste and depart.
This stunning novel illuminates the chasm between civilisation and barbarism by spotlighting a now little-known figure devoted to knowledge and the power of artistic creation.
Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?
Praised by The New York Review of Books for its "spellbinding tales," this haunting novel is lauded as "quietly powerful" and a "deeply moving read" by The New Criterion. The New York Sun highlights it as a "timely reminder" of art's fragility amid conflict and calls it "a love letter to art." Translated beautifully into English, the book blends tension and emotion, making it an absorbing page-turner.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781954404007
Publisher: New Vessel Press
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 31 March 2022
Country: United States
Imprint: New Vessel Press
Illustration: 2 Illustrations
Contributors:
- Translated by Elisabeth Lauffer
- Translated by Elisabeth Lauffer
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 133.0mm
Height: 203.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 160
Collections
About the Author
Hans von Trotha is a German historian, novelist and journalist who spent ten years as editorial director of the Nicolai publishing house in Berlin. Elisabeth Lauffer is the recipient of the 2014 Gutekunst Translation Prize. After graduating from Wesleyan University she lived in Berlin where she worked as a commercial translator and then obtained a master’s in education from Harvard.
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