num_pages: 224
description: In Rome, four members of a German family are reunited by chance. A young composer, Siegfried; his estranged father, Freidrich, who held office under the Nazis and is once more making his way in public life, this time as a democratically elected buromaster; Siegfried's uncle, Judejahn, a unrepentant former SS general; and Judejahn's renegade son, Adolf, who is preparing himself for a Catholic priesthood. The four men recount their separate experiences in music, bureaucracy, arms, and religion- taken together they personify the German soul. Death in Rome is a history book, a family book, a book about the battle over who gets to represent the authentic face of post-war Germany. It is a devastating and brilliantly powerful provocation of an entire nation.
language: English
title: Death in Rome
titlecomplete: Death in Rome
characters: Dietrich Pfaffrath, Friedrich Pfaffrath, Laura Spencer, Adolf Judejahn, Kürenberg, Gottlieb Judejahn, Ilse Kürenberg, Eva Judejahn, Siegfried Pfaffrath
genres: Fiction, Italy, German Literature, Literature, Classics, Germany, Historical Fiction, 20th Century, Literary Fiction, World War II
ratings_count: 489
places: Rome
series: Trilogy of Failure
awards: awardedAt: 725875200000
name: Schlegel-Tieck Prize
category: Michael Hofmann
publisher: Granta Books