My First Wife is Jakob Wassermann's
intense, powerful account of a marriage - and its
ruinous collapse - translated by the award-winning
translator of Alone in Berlin, Michael Hofmann.
It is the story of Alexander
Herzog, a young writer, who goes to Vienna to escape his
debts and a failed love affair. There he is pursued by
book-loving Ganna: giddy, girlish, clumsy, eccentric and
wild. Dazzled and unnerved by her devotion to him, and
attracted to the large dowry offered by her wealthy
father, he thinks he can mould Ganna into what he wants.
But no-one can control her troubling passions. As their
marriage starts to self-destruct, Herzog will discover
that Ganna has resources and determination of which he
had no idea - and that he can never escape
her. Posthumously published in 1934 and based on the
author Jakob Wassermann's own ruinous marriage, My
First Wife bears the unmistakable aura of true and
bitter experience. It is a tragic masterpiece that
unfolds in shocking detail. Now this story of rare
intensity and drama is brought to English readers in a
powerful new translation by Michael
Hofmann. Reviews:
'Like
something out of Chekhov - it's all there, the ennui,
the preening etiquette, the intellectual posturing ...
painfully heartfelt ... My First Wife is a
devastating indictment of the choices we make out of
convenience against our hearts and instincts, and the
tragedies that ensue'
Independent
'You won't find
a more agonising, fascinating literary account of a
marriage hitting the rocks' Mail
Online
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