Our Philosopher

“Hofmann explores terrifying and timeless questions through the gaze of youth…Hans, a German child in the late 1930s, knows that Herr Veilchenfeld is an elderly philosopher…whom his father, the town’s doctor, visits regularly…As he comes to understand that something is not right with his kindly, mysterious neighbor—and that something has shifted in the world during this time of great political and social upheaval­—Hans experiences a private and deeply moving coming-of-age. The result is a delicate tale of innocence unknowingly lost.”  —Publishers Weekly

<p><i>Our Philosopher</i> isn’t the first or the only German novel to depict the experiences of a child during the war, but the novel’s minimalist style and flat tone perhaps set it apart from others… while the characters may speak a broken language, the same isn’t true of the novel. In its bare style, it is deliberate and powerful, especially in Mace-Tessler’s attentive translation.<br />—Noah Slaughter, <i>Full Stop</i></p>

“Hofmann’s is a world twilit by bourgeois civilisation and shocking barbarity. It allows us to understand fascism better, to better lament its hatred, and perhaps, to help us recognise it when it returns. His success is testament to his masterly eye and head and heart.” —Tom Conaghan, Review 31

“A young boy with clear, unsentimental eyes and a storybook mind tells of terrible events, the more terrible because we know more than he does.” —Paul Griffiths, TLS Books of the Year

“Hofmann’s writing has a pleasing formality and subtlety (in an excellent translation), which brings us through both depths of thought and violence with the same patient clarity.” —Declan O’Driscoll, Irish Times

“One of the best holocaust novels in postwar German literature.” —Milena Ganeva, Reference Guide to Holocaust Literature

“This unsettling tale concerns the persecution of one man in pre–World War II Germany. . . . Hofmann never uses the words Jew, Nazi, Hitler, or brownshirt. . . . The author surrounds his philosopher with mostly nondescript townspeople who abet, approve, or only quietly, and rarely, censure. . . . A painful, powerful work.” —Kirkus, starred review

“The best novel I’ve read that describes events through the eyes of a child is little known and a minor masterpiece. . . . Hans, the son of a small-town doctor, watches as the life of his fascinating neighbor, Professor Veilchenfeld, unravels and is then destroyed. . . . In this learned old man, Hofmann condenses the industrialized extermination of millions. . . . To recount it through the limited and fragmented understanding of an innocent child was an inspired authorial choice.” —Ian McEwan, The Wall Street Journal