Brigitte Vergne-Cain Libri

A bordo di una nave da crociera due contendenti si sfidano alla scacchiera. Da un lato Mirko Czentovič, campione mondiale in carica, rozzo, arrogante e venale; dall’altro l’enigmatico dottor B., colto, elegante e nervoso, dotato di un talento prodigioso e immaginifico... Due destini lontanissimi e diversamente avvolti dal mistero, due storie affascinanti e distanti che il fato ha portato a convergere sulle 64 caselle bianche e nere, in una partita che non è soltanto un’occasione ludica ma una resa dei conti con la vita. Perché «Non ci si rende già colpevoli di una limitazione offensiva, definendo gli scacchi “un gioco”?». Scritta nel 1941, durante l’esilio brasiliano di Zweig, a pochi mesi dal suicidio, la Novella degli scacchi è considerata il capolavoro dello scrittore austriaco.

The last book published during Kafka's lifetime, A Hunger Artist (1924) explores many of the themes that were close to him: spiritual poverty, asceticism, futility, and the alienation of the modern artist. He edited the manuscript just before his death, and these four stories are some of his best known and most powerful work, marking his maturity as a writer. In addition to "First Sorrow," "A Little Woman," and "Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse People" is the title story, "A Hunger Artist," which has been called by the critic Heinz Politzer "a perfection, a fatal fulfillment that expresses Kafka's desire for permanence." The three volumes Twisted Spoon Press has published: Contemplation, A Country Doctor, and A Hunger Artist are the collections of stories that Kafka had published during his lifetime. Though each volume has its own distinctive character, they have most often appeared in English in collected editions. They are presented here as separate editions, in new translations by Kevin Blahut, each with its own illustrator from the Prague community.