Clouds over Paris: The Wartime Notebooks of Felix Hartlaub

Felix Hartlaub's private writings from the Second World War, Clouds Over Paris, offer a unique testament to the persistence of ordinary life through disaster. His evocative and precise observations of life in Paris during the occupation provide a lasting place for him in German letters.

Format: Hardback
Length: 176 pages
Publication date: 01 September 2022
Publisher: Pushkin Press

Felix Hartlaub, a writer who died in obscurity at the young age of 31, left behind a small but significant oeuvre of private writings from the Second World War. These writings, consisting of fragments and observations of life during the catastrophe, have gained recognition in German letters for their evocative power and precision. Posted to Paris in 1940 to conduct archival research, Hartlaub recorded his impressions of the unfamiliar city in notebooks that provide an unparalleled glimpse into the daily realities of occupation. With a painter's eye for detail, Hartlaub vividly describes the bustle of civilians and soldiers in cafés, the half-seen trysts during blackout hours, and the sublime light of Paris in spring. Clouds Over Paris, which is being published in English for the first time, stands as a unique testament to the persistence of ordinary life even in the face of disaster.

Weight: 292g
Dimension: 145 x 222 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781782278443