Novel
Flucht nach oben
Not translated into English
Annemarie Schwarzenbach · 1999
Synopsis
The son of a Prussian aristocrat, Francis von Ruthern returns to Europe after years spent in South America, where he had fled his father. His family's world has collapsed with the economic crisis: his mother is dead, the estate is lost. Unable to resume his place, he withdraws to an Alpine ski resort above Innsbruck, where he skis, drinks and goes to evening parties, among other uprooted people who seem to be waiting for a reason to go back down to ordinary life. In the background, never named, the threat of Nazism is rising.
Context
Written in 1933, the novel remained among the author's papers: its manuscript was found by chance in 1997 at the Zurich Central Library, and the book appeared in 1999 in Basel, from Lenos, with an essay by Roger Perret. The story of a rootless generation seeking oblivion in snow and alcohol, it has been compared by critics to Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain. Dominique-Laure Miermont-Grente's French translation appeared from Payot & Rivages in 2004 and was reissued in 2012; an Italian version, Fuga verso l'alto, followed.
Who it is for
For a novel of inner exile, between drunkenness and snowy summits, written in the shadow of the rise of Nazism.
Prizes and reception
Found more than sixty years after it was written, it has found readers in French and in Italian.