Gabriele Tergit’s multigenerational magnum opus, ‘Effingers’

“Thomas Mann once said that if he were Jewish, Buddenbrooks would be read quite differently. Of course, if he'd been Jewish, well, who knows what kind of story he would have written? Maybe something more like Gabriele Tergit's multigenerational family saga Effingers.” —Paul Reitter EFFINGERS Gabriele Tergit Translated from the German by Sophie Duvernoy Gabriele Tergit’s Effingers is a novel, at once epic and intimate, about the lives and fates of three generations of a German Jewish family. Beginning in 1878 and ending in 1948, we follow the Effingers, a family of modest craftsmen from southern Germany, who are joined through marriage to two families of high-society financiers in Berlin, the Goldschmidts and the Oppners. The Effingers soon rise to prominence as one of the most important German industrialist families in Berlin, but with the outbreak of World War I, they fall on hard times and must navigate the tumultuous changes of the Weimar Republic. Full of parties and drama and delicious gossip, and featuring a kaleidoscopic cast of characters, Effingers is a keenly observed account of German Jewish life in all its richness and complexity. Tergit's precise and limpid prose dazzles in Sophie Duvernoy's elegant translation. Woefully underrated when it first appeared in 1951, and only recently rediscovered in Germany, Effingers is a meditation on identity and nationality that establishes Tergit as one of the most significant writers of the twentieth century. BUY THE BOOK   For three days only, Effingers is available at 25% off along with another novel by Gabriele Tergit: KÄSEBIER TAKES BERLIN BUY THE BOOK   A launch event for Effingers with Sophie Duvernoy Thursday, November 18, at 6:30pm ET Goethe Institut 30 Irving Place, New York, NY 10003 Conversation with Noah Isenberg Co-sponsored by Deutsches Haus at NYU Register here You are receiving this message because you signed up for email newsletters from NYRB. You can choose the types of mailings you wish to receive: Update preferences   New York Review Books 207 East 32nd Street New York, NY 10016-6305 Not a subscriber? Sign up for our newsletter here. Unsubscribe