Too Far Afield

First US edition. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book. Large 8vo. Pp. xiii-[xiv], 658. Lavender-grey paper boards, lettered in black to spine; lilac endpapers. Jacket design and montage by Vaughan Andrews. Translator's Note, Brief Chronology.

Translated from the German by Krishna Winston. Originally published as Ein weites Feld by Steidl Verlag, Göttingen, in 1995.

Two old men observe life in Berlin after the fall of the Wall in 1989. One, a former East German functionary, the other a spy of uncertain loyalties, both now employed by the Treuhand – the agency in charge of privatizing former East German state enterprises – their relationship but an allegory of the reunification of Germany. Winner of the 1999 Nobel Prize in Literature. "It is the work of a seasoned craftsman, certain of what he wants to do, completely in control of his gifts." –The New York Times Book Review