Ruthless and Other Writings By Peter Rosei, Translated by Geoffrey Howes

Ruthless and Other Writings collects stories from several phases of Peter Rosei's career, as well as excerpts from the 1995 novel Persona, a philosophical journal, and selected poetry. In the stories translated here, Rosei presents aspects of the Austrian past, particularly the social and ethical conditions brought about by the end of the Habsburg empire and the two World Wars. The characters, unique but somehow representative, emerge from the landscapes and cityscapes that Rosei describes with vivid precision. The admirable and ugly facets of human existence appear side by side, or even united within the same character or locale.