Close to Jedenew
Kevin Vennemann
Translated by Ross Benjamin
It begins like a classic German fable: Children from the rural village of Jedenew, Poland, get together late at night to play together in the dark woods. But their game is to pretend they live in the imaginary world of the Jedenew that came before them—when it wasn't occupied by the Nazis, and their Jewish friends weren't mysteriously disappearing one by one.
Kevin Vennemann's writing—already a sensation with the major publishing houses of Europe—is evocative of W.G. Sebald for its lyrical style and bold intelligence. The innovative simultaneous plot—consisting of the real and imaginative world of the children—has earned comparison to the piercing analogies of Kafka. But the accessible and absorbing narrative of Close to Jedenew, as well as its beautifully lush prose, signals the emergence of one of the most original and masterful young writers to appear in decades.
PRESS AND REVIEWS
"Vennemann intertwines the tenderest memories of childhood and friendship with the denial that the murderers have already entered the house. Who would have thought the novel capable of this profoundly original way to examine anti-Semitism and the formation of atrocity?"
—Lore Segal
"A stunning debut."
—Die Zeit
Interivew with translator Ross Benjamin
—Three Percent Link
"It is a harrowing, remarkable, serious novel, in part because it is not a guilty one"
—Nextbook Link
Review.
—Three Percent Link
Books of the Year 2008 Symposium
—Ready Steady Book Link
SEE ALSO
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Close to Jedenew
Kevin Vennemann
Translated by Ross Benjamin
Fiction / Novella
200 pages / paperback
$13.00 US / $16.00 CAN
ISBN-13: 978-1-933633-39-8
Published: June 2008
