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Klappentext Josef Blau is a high school teacher in pre WWI Prague. Because he comes from a background less privileged than that of his pupils! he becomes increasingly insecure--then devastatingly obsessive. Rigid about order and discipline! he imagines his pupils watching him! waiting for the slightest weakness. The least infringement! he feels! will lead to the complete collapse of his tightly-ordered world. His other obsession is his attractive wife. Despite her assurances! he cannot believe she will be faithful to him. He forces her to shave her hair and wear shapeless clothes! yet still cannot conquer hi fears. Catastrophe looms.
About the author
Hermann Ungar (1893-1929) was a German-speaking Jew from Moravia who was active as a writer in Berlin and Prague in the 1920s. Critics spoke of him in the same breath as Kafka, and he was feted in France after the publication of the translation of The Maimed in 1928. After the war he was forgotten in Germany, despite praise from individual writers, but the reissue of the French translation in 1987 was again greeted with enthusiastic reviews: "Herman Ungar is a great writer, unique . . . No history of literature should ignore his works."
