Review
[A] complex, finely wrought collection.... Imaginative and evocative.... This powerful book could well become a classic. --Publishers Weekly
Ingeborg Bachmann was a writer of genius. --Mary Gordon, New York Times Book Review
Bachmann s voice is rare and strong strong enough to transport us to a new domain of fiction. --Los Angeles Times
About the Author
From Karen Achberger s Introduction:
The seven stories of The Thirtieth Year are not narratives in the conventional sense. They are rather moments of reflection, lyrical impressions, monologues, and tightly composed images to suggest a radical rebellion against that worst of all possible worlds in which the protagonists find themselves. After a prelude ... in which a childhood of fearful obedience is recalled with quiet, dispassionate aversion, the six following stories break open to life s moments of crisis, of coming-of-age (for which the year thirty is symbolic) in the face of truth or the realization ... that there is no truth. In all the stories there is a yearning for renewal, for another order, for salvation, which at times takes on mythic proportions, and which, though glimpsed for a moment, is clearly unattainable.
