{"product_id":"brenner-paperback","title":"Brenner - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eHermann Burger\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eAdrian Nathan West\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Hermann Burger was an artist who went the whole hog every time, didn't conserve himself. He was a man with a big longing for happiness.\" --Marcel Reich-Ranicki \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAppearing in English for the very first time, \u003ci\u003eBrenner\u003c\/i\u003e is a delightfully unusual novel full of dark humor tracing the childhood memories of the book's eponymous narrator, a scion of an ancient cigar dynasty. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePerpetually shrouded in a thick cloud of cigar smoke, Herman Arbogast Brenner, scion of an old and famous cigar dynasty, has decided to kill himself--but not until he has written down his forty-six years of life, in a Proustian attempt to conjure the wounds, joys, and sensations of his childhood in the rolling countryside of the Aargau region of Switzerland. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEstranged from his wife and two children, he decides there is no point in squirrelling away his fortune, so he buys himself a Ferrari 328 GTS, and drives around sharing cigars with his few remaining friends. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn this roman à clef, writing and smoking become intertwined through the act of remembering, as Brenner, a fallible, wounded, yet lovable antihero, searches for epiphany, attempting to unearth memories just out of reach-- the glimmer of a red toy car, the sound of a particular chord played on the piano, the smell of the cigars themselves. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBrenner is the final work from Hermann Burger, who died by suicide in 1989. The book comes out just days before what would have been the author's 80th birthday.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eHermann Burger (1942-1989) was a Swiss author, critic, and professor. Author of four novels and several volumes of essays, short fiction and poetry, he first achieved fame with his novel \u003ci\u003eSchilten\u003c\/i\u003e, the story of a mad village schoolteacher who teaches his students to prepare for death. He died by suicide days after the publication of \u003ci\u003eBrenner\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTranslator Bio: \u003c\/b\u003eAdrian Nathan West is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe Aesthetics of Degradation\u003c\/i\u003e as well as the translator of numerous works of contemporary European literature, including Pere Gimferrer's \u003ci\u003eFortuny\u003c\/i\u003e, Josef Winkler's \u003ci\u003eGraveyard of Bitter Oranges\u003c\/i\u003e, and Marianne Fritz's \u003ci\u003eThe Weight of Things\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 400\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.1 x 6.9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 05, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42698356490303,"sku":"9781953861306","price":26.4,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/0fa6acf9f406d1af74edcc2b8a96801d.webp?v=1765010256","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/brenner-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}