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Devil Comes to Town
Devil Comes to Town | Paolo Maurensig
4 posts | 4 read | 5 to read
"Maurensig has created a gripping short novel that is critical of the realities of publishing, a hybrid of at least two genres, highly imaginative, and involving even beyond the final page." --Critica Letteraria"Biblical, oblique, and lying somewhere between thriller, fantasy, and legend, the new novel by Paolo Maurensig, A Devil Comes to Town, is a disturbing reflection in narrative form concerning the darker side of writing." --Il GiornaleWild rabies runs rampant through the woods. The foxes are gaining ground, boldly making their way into the village. In Dichtersruhe, an insular yet charming haven stifled by the Swiss mountains, these omens go unnoticed by all but the new parish priest. The residents have other things on their mind: Literature. Everyone's a writer--the nights are alive with reworked manuscripts. So when the devil turns up in a black car claiming to be a hot-shot publisher, unsatisfied authorial desires are unleashed and the village's former harmony is shattered. Taut with foreboding and Gothic suspense, Paolo Maurensig gives us a refined and engaging literary parable on narcissism, vainglory, and our inextinguishable thirst for stories.Paolo Maurensig is one of Italy's bestselling authors. He debuted in 1993 with The Lneburg Variation, translated into twenty-five languages, and selling over 2 million copies in Italy. His novels include Canone Inverso, The Guardian of Dreams, and The Archangel of Chess. For his novel Theory of Shadows, published by FSG in the US in January 2018, he won the Bagutta Prize. A Devil Comes to Town is his latest novel and received rave reviews in the European press.
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Decalino
Devil Comes to Town | Paolo Maurensig
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Pickpick

In this unsettling novella, the narrator receives a memoir recounting the experiences of a cleric in a tiny Swiss town, where everyone is an aspiring writer. Their literary ambitions draw the attentions of a devil in the form of a publisher, who sets up shop in the insular community and proceeds to turn them against each other. A rather sinister look at the power of story.

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Jari-chan
Devil Comes to Town | Paolo Maurensig
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Pickpick

This book was love at first sight. Now, after reading it, the love runs even deeper. This story is more than your usual Faust retelling. It's uncanny, mysterious, dark. Uncomfortable. Deep. Layered. Just my kind of book ❤️ 🦊
@TheAromaofBooks #BookSpinBingo

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Awesome photo! Letter in the mail for you today! ❤️ 3y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 3y
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Abailliekaras
Devil Comes to Town | Paolo Maurensig
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I loved this from the first page. A priest in a small Swiss town confronts the devil, who appears in the form of a brash publisher. Scathing re jealousies & hypocrisy of literati, satiric re the deterioration of cathedrals & ‘great stages‘ for the devil: ‘what‘s left to the poor old-school devil?‘. A writer in full control, lively prose - theatrical & absurd but writing so clear he nails the images to the page - each scene comes to life.

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