Author(s): Felix Hartlaub

History | France

The first English translation of Hartlaub's diaries, which have attained classic status in Germany, perfect for fans of Primo Levi and readers of Irène Némirovsky's Suite Française.

The writer Felix Hartlaub died in obscurity at just 31, vanishing from Berlin in 1945. He left behind a small oeuvre of private writings from the Second World War: fragments and observations of life from the midst of catastrophe that, with their evocative power and precision, would make a permanent place for him in German letters.

Posted to Paris in 1940 to conduct archival research, Hartlaub recorded his impressions of the unfamiliar city in notebooks that document with unparalleled immediacy the daily realities of occupation. With a painter's eye for detail, Hartlaub writes of the bustle of civilians and soldiers in cafes, of half-seen trysts during blackout hours and the sublime light of Paris in spring. Appearing in English for the first time, Clouds Over Paris is a unique testament to the persistence of ordinary life through disaster.

'Hartlaub is regarded as one of German literature's great lost writers, a man who left just enough to tantalise posterity at what heights he may have scaled had he lived just another two weeks until the German surrender... for the first time in English Simon Beattie's agile translation showcases wonderfully the insight and gift with which Hartlaub brimmed.' - New European

Review: 'Hartlaub is regarded as one of German literature's great lost writers, a man who left just enough to tantalise posterity at what heights he may have scaled had he lived just another two weeks until the German surrender... for the first time in English Simon Beattie's agile translation showcases wonderfully the insight and gift with which Hartlaub brimmed.' - New European

'The greatest literary talent of his generation' - Die Welt

Author Biography: Felix Hartlaub grew up in Mannheim, the son of an art historian and museum director who was ejected from his post by the Nazis in 1933 for his support of 'degenerate' art. Hartlaub studied history and was called up immediately upon graduating in 1939. Initially serving in a barrage balloon unit, he was sent to Paris in late 1940 to do archival research for the German foreign office, using his spare time to document the city in the notebooks that comprise Clouds Over Paris. He would continue writing diaries throughout the war up until he went missing in Berlin in May 1945. Since then, his work has been published in numerous editions and earned great acclaim.