A Small Circus

Uncommonly vivid and original – Robert Musil
Real love and real humanity – Hermann Hesse
The best account of small-town Germany … so terribly genuine, it is frightening – Kurt Tucholsky
This novel’s genius … lies in Fallada’s ability to reveal … as well as to analyse the macabre game of musical chairs that was the Weimar Republic. Fallada gives us front-row seats to Germany’s decade-long quest for a sacrificial scapegoat that culminated in the Nazi takeover. … Two years after Alone in Berlin’s runaway success, A Small Circus continues the Fallada revival that owes so much to the efforts of its translator, the poet Michael Hofmann – André Naffis-Sahely * Independent *
Fallada creates characters with Dickensian prodigality, each yokel, hack, pig and pen-pusher brought to life in Michael Hofmann’s beautifully judged translation … a generous, life-affirming treat – Jake Kerridge * Telegraph *
Michael Hofmann … comes as close as possible to giving us Fallada’s work in all its coarse, humorous, immediate, tragic glory – Charlotte Moore * Spectator *
Not for the first time, all praise is due to Michael Hofmann’s art and feel for nuance. His translation catches the many voices - some exasperated, others bewildered, a few downright angry - that make this bold, exuberant and candid narrative sizzle with life and the relentlessly shocking reality of it all * Irish Times *
Fallada’s own experiences as a regional journalist in north Germany underlie the action, and it is this sense of realism, combined with an ear for dialogue and an acute understanding of human frailty, that make the novel such an authentic portrayal of an imploding era – Ben Hutchinson * Observer *

Hans Fallada was one of the best-known German writers of the twentieth century. Born on 21 July 1893 in Greifswald as Rudolf Wilhelm Adolf Ditzen, he took his pen name from a Brothers Grimm fairy tale. His most famous works include the novels Little Man, What Now?, The Drinker and the bestselling Alone in Berlin. Fallada died from an overdose of morphine on 5 February 1947 in Berlin.

Michael Hofmann is the author of several books of poems and a book of criticism, Behind the Lines, and the translator of many modern and contemporary authors.

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