The Radetzky March
Book description
THE RADETSKY MARCH is subtle and touching study of family life at the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Writing in the traditional form of the family saga, Roth nevertheless manages to bring to his story a completely individual manner which gives at the same time the detailed and intimate portrait…
Why read it?
2 authors picked The Radetzky March as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This book offers a panorama of the Austro-Hungarian empire from the mid-nineteenth century to its collapse in the aftermath of World War I through the lives of three generations of minor provincial nobility. With the possible exception of War and Peace, there are few better examples of the intertwining of personal lives with world events.
The book offers a striking account of the inner life of a ruler, Emperor Franz-Josef, and a deeply felt account of the decay and collapse of an empire.
Joseph Roth, an alcoholic, itinerant journalist who never had a proper home, was a friend of Stefan Zweig but enjoyed nothing like his success; yet I think this is one of the greatest neglected novels ever written. The last, collapsing days of the Austro–Hungarian empire are depicted through a family saga whose characters burn themselves onto one's mind. Claustrophobic, unremitting, reminiscent in some ways of Kafka at his best, for my money this knocks Zweig's Beware of Pity into a cocked hat! A depiction of a degenerate society at its last gasp surely also has strong parallels with the modern…
From Anton's list on the best I have read so far.
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