The Capital

First-class satire . . .The Capital delivers, within a brilliant satirical fiction, thoughtful and instructive analysis of both the weaknesses in the EU that galvanise leavers and the strengths that motivate remainers. -- Mark Lawson * Guardian * A traditional novel, broadshouldered, omniscient, almost Balzac-ian, but with terrorism part of a plot centered satirically around an all-too-plausible Brussels idea. -- Steven Erlanger * New York Times * The Capital is a mischievous yet profound story about storytelling; about the art of shaping a narrative by finding resonances in the messy stuff of life . . . [An] unexpectedly delightful book about Brussels. * Economist * Menasse has a finely tuned satirical ear that easily criss-crosses borders . . . an intelligently written, pacy novel whose wide-ranging narratives ensure the momentum never wavers . . . Robert Menasse has produced an extraordinary piece of work -- Charlie Connelly * New European * A thoroughly entertaining fiction that serves both as a sort of campus satire and a novel of ideas . . . Menasse packs his Brussels with sharply-etched types . . . With its zest, pace and wit, Jamie Bulloch's translation serves him splendidly. -- Boyd Tonkin * Spectator * A deliciously vicious - and timely - satire about the E.U. and the meaning of Europe today -- Frederick Studemann * Financial Times * [An] ambitious panorama that arrives amid the throes of Brexit and the Chinese Year of the Pig. Intelligent, fun, sad, insightful - an exceptional work. * Kirkus Reviews * An elegantly written, brilliantly constructed novel, full of discussion points and ideas -- Andreas Isenschmid * Die Zeit * A sharply observed, witty novel, a character comedy . . . the best novel about European bureaucracy you'll read . . . a brave and funny book -- Charlie Connelly * New European Best Books of 2019 * A brutally funny and exhaustive tableau of both a continent in transition and the organisation straining to hold it together . . . a teeming epic -- Andrew R. Chow * Time Magazine * Rumbustious . . . deliciously witty -- Paul Connolly * Metro * The Capital could hardly be more topical . . . It is about Europe reconnecting with its ideals via a tragic past . . . It's a smart read, unlike anything being written in Britain today. -- David Herman * Jewish Chronicle * Robert Menasse's polyphonic EU satire juggles a multitude of wryly amusing storylines. -- Siobhan Murphy * The Times * This is above all the polyphonic novel in excelsis . . . I want to read much more from this major European writer -- David Nice * Arts Desk * Witty but humane. . . . The massive cast never becomes unwieldy thanks to Menasse's delightful prose. This epic, droll account of contemporary Europe will be catnip for fans of mosaic novels and comical political machinations. * Publishers Weekly (*****) * I enjoyed The Capital so much . . . A major book about coincidences, of linked and overlapping meanings . . . This is a deeply humane novel, a novel for adults. -- Dwight Garner * The New York Times * Menasse assembles his cast from the different member states . . . but he gives their inner lives a complexity that belies the satirical shorthand of simple labels . . . brilliantly comic . . . An important and timely book. -- Michael Cronin * Irish Times * A gripping novel with an urgent political purpose -- Fintan O'Toole * New York Review of Books *

Robert Menasse was born in Vienna in 1954 and studied there before moving to Brazil, where he lived for six years as a professor of literature at the University of So Paulo. He is the author of several novels translated into English, including Wings of Stone and Reverse Thrust, and of a work of non-fiction, Enraged Citizens, European Peace and Democratic Deficits: Or Why the Democracy Given to Us Must Become One We Fight for (2016). In 2017 he was awarded the German Book Prize for Die Hauptstadt (The Capital).