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Lead book review

The unpleasant truth about Joseph Roth

The Radetzky March must be one of the dozen greatest European novels – but its author was frighteningly unpleasant, says Philip Hensher

1 October 2022

9:00 AM

1 October 2022

9:00 AM

Endless Flight: The Life of Joseph Roth Keiron Pim

Granta, pp.544, 25

Endless Flight is the first biography in English of the novelist Joseph Roth. This is very surprising, since Roth’s short, violent life traverses some of the most compelling episodes in 20th-century European history. He was a supremely elegant, intelligent and clear-sighted writer, despite living out of suitcases, in hotel rooms, always on the run.

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