“A deliciously vicious – and timely – satire about the E.U. and the meaning of Europe today” – Frederick Studemann, Financial Times
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 and the irony of fate, between petty bureaucracy and big emotions.
As the fiftieth anniversary of the European Commission approaches, the Directorate-General for Culture is tasked with planning and organising a fitting celebration. The project will serve the wider purpose of revamping the Commission’s image at a time of waning public support. When Fenia Xenopoulou’s Austrian P.A. Martin Susman suggests putting Auschwitz at the centre of the jubilee, she is thrilled. But she has neglected to take the other E.U. institutions into account.
Inspector Brunfaut is in a tricky situation too: his murder case has been suppressed at the highest level. Luckily, he’s friends with the I.T. whizz at Brussels’ Police H.Q., who gains access to secret files in the public prosecutor’s office. Matek, the Polish hitman, knows nothing of this. But he does know that he shot the wrong guy, and for Matek, who would rather have become a priest, this is serious. And what about the pig farmers who take to the streets of the city to protest about existing trade restrictions blocking the export of pigs’ ears to China . . .?
The Capital is a sharp satire, a philosophical essay, a crime story, a comedy of manners, a wild pig chase, but at its heart it has the most powerful pro-European message: no-one should forget the circumstances that gave rise to the European project in the first place.
(P)2019 Quercus Editions Limited
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 and the irony of fate, between petty bureaucracy and big emotions.
As the fiftieth anniversary of the European Commission approaches, the Directorate-General for Culture is tasked with planning and organising a fitting celebration. The project will serve the wider purpose of revamping the Commission’s image at a time of waning public support. When Fenia Xenopoulou’s Austrian P.A. Martin Susman suggests putting Auschwitz at the centre of the jubilee, she is thrilled. But she has neglected to take the other E.U. institutions into account.
Inspector Brunfaut is in a tricky situation too: his murder case has been suppressed at the highest level. Luckily, he’s friends with the I.T. whizz at Brussels’ Police H.Q., who gains access to secret files in the public prosecutor’s office. Matek, the Polish hitman, knows nothing of this. But he does know that he shot the wrong guy, and for Matek, who would rather have become a priest, this is serious. And what about the pig farmers who take to the streets of the city to protest about existing trade restrictions blocking the export of pigs’ ears to China . . .?
The Capital is a sharp satire, a philosophical essay, a crime story, a comedy of manners, a wild pig chase, but at its heart it has the most powerful pro-European message: no-one should forget the circumstances that gave rise to the European project in the first place.
(P)2019 Quercus Editions Limited
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Reviews
[An] ambitious panorama that arrives amid the throes of Brexit and the Chinese Year of the Pig. Intelligent, fun, sad, insightful - an exceptional work.
The Capital could hardly be more topical . . . It is about Europe reconnecting with its ideals via a tragic past . . . It's a smart read, unlike anything being written in Britain today.
A deliciously vicious - and timely - satire about the E.U. and the meaning of Europe today
An elegantly written, brilliantly constructed novel, full of discussion points and ideas
First-class satire . . .The Capital delivers, within a brilliant satirical fiction, thoughtful and instructive analysis of both the weaknesses in the EU that galvanise leavers and the strengths that motivate remainers.
I enjoyed The Capital so much . . . A major book about coincidences, of linked and overlapping meanings . . . This is a deeply humane novel, a novel for adults.
Rumbustious . . . deliciously witty
Witty but humane. . . . The massive cast never becomes unwieldy thanks to Menasse's delightful prose. This epic, droll account of contemporary Europe will be catnip for fans of mosaic novels and comical political machinations.
The Capital is a mischievous yet profound story about storytelling; about the art of shaping a narrative by finding resonances in the messy stuff of life . . . [An] unexpectedly delightful book about Brussels.
A thoroughly entertaining fiction that serves both as a sort of campus satire and a novel of ideas . . . Menasse packs his Brussels with sharply-etched types . . . With its zest, pace and wit, Jamie Bulloch's translation serves him splendidly.
A traditional novel, broadshouldered, omniscient, almost Balzac-ian, but with terrorism part of a plot centered
satirically around an all-too-plausible Brussels idea.
Menasse has a finely tuned satirical ear that easily criss-crosses borders . . . an intelligently written, pacy novel whose wide-ranging narratives ensure the momentum never wavers . . . Robert Menasse has produced an extraordinary piece of work
Robert Menasse's polyphonic EU satire juggles a multitude of wryly amusing storylines.
This is above all the polyphonic novel in excelsis . . . I want to read much more from this major European writer
Menasse assembles his cast from the different member states . . . but he gives their inner lives a complexity that belies the satirical shorthand of simple labels . . . brilliantly comic . . . An important and timely book.
A gripping novel with an urgent political purpose
A sharply observed, witty novel, a character comedy . . . the best novel about European bureaucracy you'll read . . . a brave and funny book