Weights and Measures, a novella by Joseph Roth, is part of my Participation in German Literature
Hosted by Lizzy’s Literary Life
https://lizzysiddal2.wordpress.com/2023/09/22/announcing-german-literature-month-xiii/
Weights and Measures tells the story of Anselm Eibenschütz, an artillery officer in the Austro-Hungarian army who leaves his beloved post at the insistence of his wife to take up a civilian job as Inspector of Weights and Measures in a remote backwater near the Russian border.
At first, Eibenschütz attempts to carry out his duties with rectitude and diligence. However, he soon finds himself adrift in a world of petty corruption, bribery, and drunkenness. He is also undone by his passion for the beautiful gypsy Euphemia.
Over time, Eibenschütz's moral compass becomes increasingly corrupted. He begins to accept bribes and overlook irregularities in the weights and measures of the local merchants. He also becomes increasingly dependent on alcohol to numb his pain and loneliness.
In the end, Eibenschütz's downfall is complete. He is dismissed from his job, his wife leaves him, and he is left to live out his days in a drunken stupor.
Weights and Measures is a powerful and haunting novel that explores the themes of corruption, moral decay, and the loss of innocence. It is also a beautiful and evocative portrait of Eastern Europe's borderlands in the early twentieth century.
The novel is notable for its complex and well-developed characters, its rich prose, and its unflinching depiction of the human condition.
Weights and Measures is a very powerful unflincing account of a descent into alcohol to hide from despair, a feeling you have nothing to live for.
Mel u
I am also participating in Novellas in November
Novellas in November is hosted by Cathy of 746 Books and Rebecca of Bookish Beck.
https://bookishbeck.com/
This is the 14th time I have posted on a work by Joseph Roth. I hold his work in very high esteem.
Their is an image of Joseph Roth and his very close friend Stefan Zweig in the header page of my blog
JOSEPH ROTH
Born: September 2, 1894, Brody, Ukraine
Died: May 27, 1939, Paris, France
Spouse: Friederike Reichler (m. 1922–1939)
Partner: Irmgard Keun
His works
• The Spider's Web (Das Spinnennetz) (1923, adapted in 1989 into a film of the same name)
Hotel Savoy (1924)
The Rebellion (Die Rebellion) (1924; some editions of the English translation call it simply Rebellion)
"April: The Story of a Love Affair" (April. Die Geschichte einer Liebe) (1925; in The Collected Stories)
"The Blind Mirror" (Der blinde Spiegel) (1925; in The Collected Stories)
Flight without End (Die Flucht ohne Ende) (1927)
Zipper and His Father (Zipper und sein Vater) (1928)
Right and Left (Rechts und links) (1929)
The Silent Prophet (Der stumme Prophet) (1929)
Job (Hiob) (1930)
Perlefter (novel fragment) (1930)
Radetzky March (Radetzkymarsch) (1932; some editions of the English translation call it The Radetzky March)
Fallmerayer the Stationmaster (novella) (Stationschef Fallmerayer) (1933)
The Antichrist (Der Antichrist) (1934)
Tarabas (1934)
"The Bust of the Emperor" (Die Büste des Kaisers) (1934; in The Collected Stories)
Confession of a Murderer (Beichte eines Mörders) (1936)
"Die hundert Tage" ("The Ballad of the Hundred Days") (1936)
Weights and Measures (Das falsche Gewicht) (1937)
The Emperor's Tomb (Die Kapuzinergruft) (1938)
The Legend of the Holy Drinker (Die Legende vom heiligen Trinker) (1939)
The String of Pearls (Die Geschichte von der 1002. Nacht) (1939)
"The Leviathan" (Der Leviathan) (1940; in The Collected Stories)
The Collected Stories of Joseph Roth, trans. by Michael Hofmann, New York: W. W. Norton & Company (2003)
Radetzky March is the acknowledged highest regarded of his novels, my sentimental favourite is The Hotel Savoy.
Weights and Measures tells the story of Anselm Eibenschütz, an artillery officer in the Austro-Hungarian army who leaves his beloved post at the insistence of his wife to take up a civilian job as Inspector of Weights and Measures in a remote backwater near the Russian border.
At first, Eibenschütz attempts to carry out his duties with rectitude and diligence. However, he soon finds himself adrift in a world of petty corruption, bribery, and drunkenness. He is also undone by his passion for the beautiful gypsy Euphemia.
Over time, Eibenschütz's moral compass becomes increasingly corrupted. He begins to accept bribes and overlook irregularities in the weights and measures of the local merchants. He also becomes increasingly dependent on alcohol to numb his pain and loneliness.
In the end, Eibenschütz's downfall is complete. He is dismissed from his job, his wife leaves him, and he is left to live out his days in a drunken stupor.
Weights and Measures is a powerful and haunting novel that explores the themes of corruption, moral decay, and the loss of innocence. It is also a beautiful and evocative portrait of Eastern Europe's borderlands in the early twentieth century.
The novel is notable for its complex and well-developed characters, its rich prose, and its unflinching depiction of the human condition.
Weights and Measures is a very powerful unflincing account of a descent into alcohol to hide from despair, a feeling you have nothing to live for.
The funeral observation by Stefan Zweig is, of course, very interesting.
Mel u
2 comments:
I have only read one book by Roth, The Radetzky March, and loved it. For sure will read more by him.
This sounds like a very powerful story. No wonder you so appreciate his work.
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