Is it possible to decide on one’s own life? Not about the end, but to consciously decide to continue living, for longer than expected? An existential tour de force told with a surprisingly light touch, Robert Menasse’s The Life Decision tells of a struggle with death. Living and dying, love and family, that’s what is at stake in this sophisticated and skilful novella.
»Robert Menasse, the great, writing European, has outdone himself with this witty, gentle, audacious novella.« Peer Teuwsen, NZZ am Sonntag
»If there are plans to draw up a European Standard for prose that gets under your skin – this novella could serve as the model.« Wolfgang Schneider, SWR
»The Life Decision is a tragicomic unravelling of erstwhile dreams. The choice of novella as genre is evidence once more of Menasse’s impressive literary instinct. In this season, in which novels about aging are plentiful, he’s already taken the cake.« Meike Feßmann, Deutschlandfunk Kultur
»The depiction of the mother-son relationship, as illuminating as it is sensitive, is among the best things Robert Menasse has ever written.« Christian Schacherreiter, Oberösterreichische Nachrichten
»[Menasse] achieves one of the most difficult literary feats there is: keen wit that sophisticatedly cloaks the most hopeless situations, provoking hearty bouts of laughter.« Friederike Gösweiner, Die Presse
»[Menasse] produces a compact, artfully constructed story about how European history, political conviction, and familial ties can collide in a single life.« Martin Oversohl, all-in.de
»... with twists ... that possess a startling intensity.« Wolfgang Huber-Lang, Salzburger Nachrichten
»Robert Menasse, the great, writing European, has outdone himself with this witty, gentle, audacious novella.« Peer Teuwsen, NZZ am Sonntag
»If there are plans to draw up a European Standard for prose that gets under your skin – this novella could serve as the model.« Wolfgang Schneider,...
Persons
Robert Menasse
Robert Menasse was born in Vienna in 1954. He studied German philology, philosophy and political science in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina and received his PhD in 1980 with a thesis on the character of the outsider in literature. Menasse then spent six years teaching at the University of São Paulo, returning to Vienna in 1988, where he has since been based. Menasse has published some 18 books with Suhrkamp, which have been translated into more than 25 languages. He has won numerous awards for his work, including the German Book Prize in 2017 for Die Hauptstadt, and the European Book Prize in 2023 for Die Erweiterung.
Robert Menasse was born in Vienna in 1954. He studied German philology, philosophy and political science in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina and...
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
The World of Tomorrow
Portuguese rights (Gradiva), France (Verdier)
Enlargement
2019 – membership negotiations between the European Union and the Western Balkan countries have come to a standstill; France and the Netherlands have put in a veto. This has toppled many a...
France (Verdier), Italy (Sellerio), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Hungary (Geopen), Albania (Dudaj), Montenegro (ZUNS)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Hörverlag)
The Capital
Brussels. A panorama of tragic heroes, manipulative losers, involuntary accomplices. In his new novel, Robert Menasse spans a narrative arc between the times, the nations, the inevitable...
UK & Commonwealth (MacLehose Press), USA & Canada (W.W.Norton/Liveright), Spanish world rights (Seix Barral), Chinese simplex rights (People's Literature Publishing House), Russia (Text), Portuguese rights (Dom Quixote), Arabic world rights (AFAQ), France (Verdier), Italy (Sellerio), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Denmark (Vandkunsten) Sweden (Weyler), Japan (Hosei UP), Poland (Noir sur Blanc), Czech Republic (Plus), Hungary (Geopen), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Lithuania (Tyto Alba), Croatia (Fraktura), Serbia (Arhipelag), Slovenia (Cankarjeva založba), Greece (Patakis), Albania (Dudaj), Georgia (Intelekti), Armenia (Antares), India/Hindi (Saar Sansaar)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Der Hörverlag), German Book Club (Büchergilde Gutenberg)
Previously published in the respective language/territory; rights available again: Chinese complex rights (Linking), Turkey (Everest)
Anyone Can Say »I«
Netherlands (de Arbeiderspers), Hindi (Aryan)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Ariadne), France (Jacqueline Chambon), Bulgaria (Lege Artis)
Don Juan de La Mancha or the Education of Lust
France (Verdier), Latvia (Jumava), Serbia (Karpos), Hindi (Vani)
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Alma Books/Calder Publications), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Italy (Scritturapura), Netherlands (de Arbeiderspers), Slovakia (Kalligram), Hungary (Kalligram), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Lithuania (Pasvires Pasaulis)
Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Lindhardt & Ringhof / Saga Egmont)
Expulsion from Hell
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Alianza), Russia (Text), France (Verdier), Portugal (Ulisseia), France (Verdier), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Norway (Aschehoug), Czech Republic (Academia), Hungary (Ulpius Ház), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Slovenia (Cankarjeva založba), Greece (Polis)
Wings of Stone
Leo Singer, a philosophy student and son of Jewish parents who emigrated to Brazil during the Nazi era, returns to Vienna with his parents in the early 1960s.
He falls in love with...
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Calder), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Russia (Fantakt), France (Verdier), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Poland (PIW), Czech Republic (Vlasty Brtnikove), Hungary (Jelenkor), Slovak Republic (Kalligram), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Serbia (Stubowi Kulture)