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Fiasco

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First published: 1988
Pages: 308

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About this book

Imre Kertész's "Fiasco" is a Kafkaesque narrative that depicts the Communist takeover of his native country in a hilarious yet melancholic way. After being drafted into the army and given the task of escorting military detainees, the main character chooses to pretend to be insane to get off duty. The story portrays life under the new government as an almost continuous continuation of what life was like in the German concentration camps, which was itself portrayed as a continuation of the oppressive patriarchal rule of miserable childhood. The book is a biting examination of the totalitarian experience, which is viewed as traumatizing not just the individual but the entire society.

About the author

Imre Kertész

Imre Kertész was a Hungarian author and recipient of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Literature, "for writing that upholds the fragile experience of the individual against the barbaric arbitrariness of history". He was the first Hungarian to win the Nobel in Literature. His works deal with themes of the Holocaust, dictatorship, and personal freedom.