The Dog King

by Christoph Ransmayr

Book Overview

From Christoph Ransmayr, whose brilliant rise to preeminence among the younger generation of writers in the German language was recently crowned when he shared with Salman Rushdie Europe's most... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679450572
• ISBN13: 9780679450573
• Release Date: May 1997
• Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
• Length: 355 Pages
• Weight: 4.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.1" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

Austria - Ã-sterreich

("Hi. I'm writing from Austria, and I hope my English will be not too bad!")Indeed, Ch. Ransmayer ist one of the best writers in German-language in the time after 1945!He is also one of the most important writers 1945. Because there are not so many who write what the Austrians had done to the Jews. It must be said: The Austrian Nazi were the "better" Nazis. For example: Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, ...But too less of us will declare what our land had done in the second world war.So the "dog king" (Morbus Kitahara, orig.) is a necessary document of Austrian history!!!(Austria is not Germany)

Highly interesting fiction about post WWII-Austria

The setting of this book is in a small village in a country like Austria. The victorious countries after a big war don't want to rebuild this country, but totally destroy it. In post WWII times an american General had those plans for real, in the book it is described, what could have happened. The village is strapped from anything what could be described as modern infrastructure. The railway is being closed, there are no factories anymore and the people are not allowed to have contact to other parts of the former country. Bering, the main character is interested in birds and iron machinery. Therefore he becomes the driver of Ambras, the survivor of the KZ close to the little village. He is the only one who is allowed to own a car, because he is some kind of a mayor of the village. The story is compelling, but not the important thing about this book. The best about the book is the language, which stands in the tradition of Musil, Zweig or Lenz but also brings up new, interesting and fitting phrases. The way he describes scenes like the every year returning "show" of playing KZ to remind the inhabitants of the village of the dreadful past is phantastic. Literature does'nt have to be boring, Ransmayer is proof for it.

an important author

yes, i agree. one of the weaknesses of this book is the development of its characters. but maybe that is the point here: the novel focuses on people that cannot escape from their parents' past, the situation it depicts is completely static.still i think ransmayr deals better than anyone before him with the holocaust by taking a more or less objective point of view. the horrible scenes of the torture of an allegedly former SS-soldier are unforgettable. and maybe that's the message of the book: violence whenever it happens cannot be undone und remains in our memories. yet the major strengths of this book are its language and inventiveness. having read morbus kitahara (original title)in german, i think ransmayr's name can be added to the greatest authors in the second part of the 20th century. at the moment there isn't really anybody who surpasses the beauty of ransmayr's language.

Simply brilliant

Ransmayr's alternative history of the Second World War is - at least in German - one of the best novels ever released

The Kitahara Syndrom = The Dog King

Do not get frustrated if you do not find reviews on this title: look it up under its English title 'The Dog King' to find plenty of comments on this powerful book. The original (German) title is 'Morbus Kitahara', a disease that continously narrows the eyesight of the main character, called the 'Dog King' later in the book. Like all Ransmayr's novels you should, if anyhow possible, try to read this book in German...