The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
The Wall
$17.95
By Marlen Haushofer
Translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside
"The Wall is a dystopian novel that gradually becomes a utopian one, as our narrator makes a new community. Haushofer’s inhabiting of animality is remarkably tender and selfles....Strange and wondrous."—James Wood, The New Yorker
"What is the wall? An allusion to the Cold War? An allegory for the Berlin Wall? Yes. But it also serves as a metaphorical stand-in for so many restrictions. It creates a situation that allows the main character and the reader to examine our ontology and what we think makes us real."—Kirkus, starred review
"An extraordinarily interesting writer, always underappreciated."—Elfriede Jelinek
While vacationing in a hunting lodge in the Austrian mountains, a middle-aged woman awakens one morning to find herself separated from the rest of the world by an invisible wall. With a cat, a dog, and a cow as her sole companions, she learns how to survive and cope with her loneliness.
Allegorical yet deeply personal and absorbing, The Wall is at once a critique of modern civilization, a nuanced and loving portrait of a relationship between a woman and her animals, a thrilling survival story, a Cold War-era dystopian adventure, and a truly singular feminist classic.
Paperback
239 pages
New Directions, 2022
Originally published in 1968
5.3 x 0.7 x 8.1 inches
ISBN 9780811231947
Fiction
Translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside
"The Wall is a dystopian novel that gradually becomes a utopian one, as our narrator makes a new community. Haushofer’s inhabiting of animality is remarkably tender and selfles....Strange and wondrous."—James Wood, The New Yorker
"What is the wall? An allusion to the Cold War? An allegory for the Berlin Wall? Yes. But it also serves as a metaphorical stand-in for so many restrictions. It creates a situation that allows the main character and the reader to examine our ontology and what we think makes us real."—Kirkus, starred review
"An extraordinarily interesting writer, always underappreciated."—Elfriede Jelinek
While vacationing in a hunting lodge in the Austrian mountains, a middle-aged woman awakens one morning to find herself separated from the rest of the world by an invisible wall. With a cat, a dog, and a cow as her sole companions, she learns how to survive and cope with her loneliness.
Allegorical yet deeply personal and absorbing, The Wall is at once a critique of modern civilization, a nuanced and loving portrait of a relationship between a woman and her animals, a thrilling survival story, a Cold War-era dystopian adventure, and a truly singular feminist classic.
Paperback
239 pages
New Directions, 2022
Originally published in 1968
5.3 x 0.7 x 8.1 inches
ISBN 9780811231947
Fiction