Dove — Selected Works of Joseph Roth

Author: [German] Jürgen muchen, translated by Cai Hongjun and others
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2003-04-01
Features: The name of Jürgen muchen is very familiar to Chinese readers. The book Perfume brought him fame and recognition worldwide. To date, this book has been translated into over 20 languages, including English, French, Italian, Japanese, and Chinese. This book selects one of Jürgen muchen's middle-length stories, three short stories, and one essay. Among them, The Pigeon is the author's powerful work published in 1978. It tells the following story: Jonathan is a doorman at a bank in Paris. After enduring the terror of Nazi rule, the hardships of war, and his wife's elopement with another man, he becomes extremely timid and fearful. As he is settling into his ordinary life, an unexpected pigeon disrupts his inner peace, causing him to feel inexplicable tension, confusion, and fear. Pigeons are symbols of peace and safety, but in the author's portrayal, they become the source of panic, with their metaphor being quite clear. It reflects the anxiety of modern Western society about the loss of security and the fear of human survival. The novel uses traditional techniques, skillful craftsmanship, and outstanding psychological descriptions to portray the bewildered and trance-like state of the protagonist, making it an excellent psychological novel. The other three short stories are also rare masterpieces. With sharp and incisive writing, the author, through his unique and profound insights into the personalities and psychology of different characters, presents a series of vivid portraits of society.