Reissue of a masterfully taut modern classic about a young Dutch couple sheltering a Jewish man in their house during the Nazi occupation
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‘Hans Keilson is a genius… Rarely have such harrowing narratives been related with such wry, off-kilter humor… [one] of the world's very greatest writers’ Francine Prose, New York Times Book Review
‘A book of such profound and understated beauty that it almost seems to function as a parable’ LA Times
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When Wim and Marie, a young Dutch couple, agree to hide a Jewish man in their home during the Nazi occupation, they think they are fulfilling their patriotic duty. Tension and awkwardness reign in the house as they try to adapt to this forbidden guest, whom they know as Nico. Small accidents and unexpected encounters ensue as the dynamic unsettles all three – until Nico dies, and Wim and Marie must face the risky endeavour of disposing of his body.
Taut, penetrating and rich with dark irony, Comedy in a Minor Key is a masterful study of human relationships under extreme circumstances.
About the author
Hans Keilson (1909-2011) was a German-Dutch novelist, poet, psychoanalyst and child psychologist. Keilson studied pharmacology in Berlin but was prevented from working in the field by the Nazi law prohibiting Jews from employment. He published his first novel in 1933, which was banned by the Nazis the following year.
In 1936, he fled Germany for the Netherlands, where he later became active in the resistance to the Nazi occupation. It was this experience that inspired his novel Comedy in a Minor Key, first published in German in 1947. Keilson went on to become a psychiatrist specialising in children's war trauma, and achieved great international recognition as a writer shortly before his death at the age of 101.
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