{"product_id":"the-frog-in-the-throat-paperback","title":"The Frog in the Throat - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMarkus Werner\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eMichael Hofmann\u003c\/b\u003e (Translator), \u003cb\u003eMichael Hofmann\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a small town in Switzerland, Franz--ex-clergyman, ex-husband, current counselor of locals at loose ends-- is being haunted by his recently deceased father, Klement. In life, Franz was caught cheating on his wife and defrocked, after which Klement never spoke to him again. In death, Klement visits his son in the form of a frog in the throat, choking him, yes, but also giving voice to an old dairy farmer devoted to the old ways, forever railing against his son and the whole modern mess he represents.\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe same can be said of this novel, in which these two voices clash, harmonize, and ultimately offer up all the mutual recognition and incomprehension that is family life. A miniature tragicomic masterpiece, Markus Werner's second novel is as bursting with life as a Dickens novel: not only Franz's high-strung shenanigans and the father's settled life among the cattle, but the lives of his sister and brother and the land all around. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs in all of Werner's work, the world looks grim (\"I sit around, I drink, I brood, I pat myself down for flaws and find many and each evening I say: Starting tomorrow\u003cbr\u003eI'm going to get a grip on myself\") but never less than comic--a view captured marvelously in Michael Hofmann's vivid translation.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eMarkus Werner (1944-2016) was born in Eschlikon, Switzerland, and raised in the canton of Schaffhausen. He studied German language and literature at the University of Zurich, where he wrote a doctoral thesis on the work of Max Frisch. For most of the 1970s and '80s, he was a teacher--a profession from which he retired eagerly in 1990 to become a full-time writer. As he put it in a rare self-portrait: \"I smoke, write haltingly, and live in the country.\" He wrote very haltingly, or rather meticulously indeed, publishing seven novels in the course of twenty years--among them \u003ci\u003eZ?ndel's Exit\u003c\/i\u003e (1984), \u003ci\u003eCold Shoulder\u003c\/i\u003e (1989), and \u003ci\u003eOn the Edge\u003c\/i\u003e (2004). \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMichael Hofmann is a German-born, British-educated poet, critic, and translator. His most recent books are \u003ci\u003eOne Lark, One Horse\u003c\/i\u003e (poems) and \u003ci\u003eMessing About in Boats\u003c\/i\u003e (essays). For New York Review Books he has translated several works, including Alfred D?blin's \u003ci\u003eBerlin Alexanderplatz\u003c\/i\u003e, and edited an anthology of writing by Malcolm Lowry, \u003ci\u003eThe Voyage That Never Ends\u003c\/i\u003e. In 2024, his translation of Jenny Erpenbeck's novel \u003ci\u003eKairos\u003c\/i\u003e won the International Booker Prize.\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 144\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.5 x 8.1 x 5.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 04, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44378901741670,"sku":"9781681379128","price":23.59,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0599\/7255\/0758\/files\/9VS0ZI9HCu9781681379128.webp?v=1768912646","url":"https:\/\/infinitylightwa.com\/products\/the-frog-in-the-throat-paperback","provider":"Infinity Light","version":"1.0","type":"link"}