Anyone Can Say »I«

Tales from the End of the Post-War Era

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Netherlands (de Arbeiderspers), Hindi (Aryan)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Ariadne), France (Jacqueline Chambon), Bulgaria (Lege Artis)

Literary

Robert Menasse

Anyone Can Say »I« / Ich kann jeder sagen

Tales from the End of the Post-War Era

History repeats itself. Memories as well. When did the post-war order come to an end? When did the wall fell? A young pair who spent their wedding night watching TV will remember November 9, 1989 their entire lives. They experience German history in the making that night. By coincidence.

Because they were really only looking to get married as quickly as possible. The next available appointment at the city registry office was November 9. Until that day, November 9 had always been...

Because they were really only looking to get married as quickly as possible. The next available appointment at the city registry office was November 9. Until that day, November 9 had always been associated with the anniversary of the Kristallnacht for the father of groom. »Bah, history,« his son says.

Anyone Can Say »I«. 13 first-person narrators recall the experiences and events that shaped their lives. Memories of the day when John F. Kennedy was shot, when the RAF abducted Palmer in Vienna, when Greece won the European Cup in soccer. Memory breeds history. The master story-teller Robert Menasse writes what we have experienced so that we can remember, identify ourselves and be understood one day by whom lives after us.

»Robert Menasse’s new volume of stories poses the question: where was I when something momentous happened? And one must not lose sight of the fact that there are few writers who can mould philosophical and intrinsically valuable working prose in such entertaining ways.« Die Zeit

»The scope of these small narratives yields a complete book, in which the most striking aspect is the distinctive thoroughness with which the narratives are composed. Indeed everyone can say ‘I’, but none can manage it as eclectically as Menasse.« Die Presse

2009, 185 pages

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Literary

Robert Menasse

Author

Robert Menasse was born in Vienna in 1954. He studied German philology, philosophy and political science in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina and received his PhD in 1980 with a thesis on the character of the outsider in literature. Menasse then spent six years at the University of São Paulo, first as a lecturer for Austrian literature, then as a guest lecturer at the Institute for Literary Theory, where he gave lectures on philosophical and aesthetic theories, including on Hegel, Lukács, Benjamin and Adorno. Since his return from Brazil in 1988, Robert Menasse has been a writer and essayist based mainly in Vienna.

Robert Menasse

Author

Robert Menasse was born in Vienna in 1954. He studied German philology, philosophy and political science in Vienna, Salzburg and Messina and...

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Portuguese rights (Gradiva), France (Verdier)

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France (Verdier), Italy (Sellerio), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Hungary (Geopen), Slovenia (Mladinska Knjiga), Albania (Dudaj)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Hörverlag)

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UK & Commonwealth (MacLehose Press), USA & Canada (W.W.Norton/Liveright), Spanish world rights (Seix Barral), Chinese simplex rights (People's Literature Publishing House), Chinese complex rights (Linking), Russia (Text), Portuguese rights (Dom Quixote), Arabic world rights (AFAQ), France (Verdier), Italy (Sellerio), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Denmark (Vandkunsten) Sweden (Weyler), Japan (Hosei UP), Poland (Noir sur Blanc), Czech Republic (Plus), Hungary (Geopen), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Lithuania (Tyto Alba), Croatia (Fraktura), Serbia (Arhipelag), Slovenia (Cankarjeva založba), Turkey (Everest), Greece (Patakis), Albania (Dudaj), Georgia (Intelekti), Armenia (Antares), India/Hindi (Saar Sansaar)

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Rights sold to:

France (Verdier), Latvia (Jumava), Serbia (Karpos), Hindi (Vani)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: English world rights (Alma Books/Calder Publications), Spanish world rights (Alianza), Italy (Scritturapura), Netherlands (de Arbeiderspers), Slovakia (Kalligram), Hungary (Kalligram), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Lithuania (Pasvires Pasaulis)

Domestic Rights Sales: German Audiobook (Lindhardt & Ringhof / Saga Egmont)

Year of Publication: 2001

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Rights sold to:

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Alianza), Russia (Text), France (Verdier), Portugal (Ulisseia), France (Verdier), Netherlands (Arbeiderspers), Norway (Aschehoug), Czech Republic (Academia), Hungary (Ulpius Ház), Bulgaria (Lege Artis), Slovenia (Cankarjeva založba), Greece (Polis)