Death in Rome

Synopsis

The final novel in Wolfgang Koeppen's acclaimed postwar trilogy, Death in Rome follows four members of a German family brought together in Rome a decade after the Second World War. A former SS officer, a young man preparing for the priesthood, a celebrated composer, and a government official each carry the weight of their own past as old loyalties, buried guilt, and unresolved histories surface over the course of two uneasy days.

Set against the grandeur and decay of postwar Rome, the novel is a powerful meditation on memory, complicity, and the persistence of fascism. Written with psychological intensity and moral clarity, Death in Rome asks what happens when a society attempts to move forward without confronting its past. Widely regarded as a masterpiece of postwar German literature, it concludes Koeppen's landmark trilogy alongside Pigeons on the Grass and The Hothouse.

About the Author

Wolfgang Koeppen (1906–1996) was one of the most important German novelists of the postwar period. His fiction confronts the moral and political aftermath of the Second World War with extraordinary formal innovation and psychological insight. Death in Rome is translated from the German by Michael Hofmann.

Publisher
New Directions

Publication Date
September 30, 2025

Format
Paperback

Pages
224

Subjects
Literary Fiction · Translated Fiction · German Literature · Modern Classics

ISBN
9780811240024