"In Hans von Trotha's haunting novel Pollak's Arm ... beautifully translated into English by Elisabeth Lauffer, the setting is Nazi-occupied Rome on October 16, 1943, the Saturday when the Gestapo rounded up the city's Jews—the day when the barbarians came knocking door to door ... We hear spellbinding tales."
—The New York Review of Books
"Quietly powerful, closely written ... A lament for a lost world ... This work has the appearance of a chamber piece ... but ends up as something infinitely grander. It is also a book in which the tension builds and builds, not only an absorbing and deeply moving read, but, to put it crassly, a page-turner. I finished it in one sitting."
—The New Criterion
"At a moment when war has once again come to Europe and the relationship between culture and conflict is headline news, Pollak's Arm is a timely reminder that art is no defense against brutality, that civilization is a thin skein easily shredded once tanks and troops start enforcing their rough rule ... A love letter to art."
—The New York Sun
"Nazi forces bear down on a Jewish scholar in Rome in Hans von Trotha’s erudite novel ... Tense yet enthralling."
—The Wall Street Journal
"Deeply satisfying ... Rich ... In slack cultural times, we need astringent art to give us moral strength, and this little tale seems to offer precisely that."
—The Times Literary Supplement
"The novel resembles a one-act play ... capturing a life enriched by its commitment to art and antiquities and a man who makes an unusual decision when faced with a crucial choice. A work that weaves art and history into a fascinating tale."
—Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)
"Brilliant ... A cautionary tale about the beauty of art often being no match for the boot and the fist. This multilayered account of myth and injustice has much to offer."
—Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"Possible to read in one sitting but, once read, impossible to stop thinking about ... Pollak's Arm is a quiet and surprising masterpiece set during World War II, certain to make readers think deeply about history, philosophy and art."
—Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)
"Pollak’s Arm is a poignant ode to storytelling, bearing witness to historical memory from the Trojan War to World War II ... marvelous enough as a short story. Yet von Trotha masterfully weaves it into a much larger saga linking to an ancient Greek myth and a sculpture. It becomes a Haggadah in the sense of a Jewish Passover story to tell your children over and over."
—On the Seawall
"Hans von Trotha has told a beautiful, complex story in Pollak’s Arm. In writing about it, the temptation is to keep quoting and quoting. There is so much in it; it’s crammed with precious treasures."
—The Rumpus
"Gripping narrative ... extraordinarily persuasive ... Pollak's Arm displays keen psychological insights and a profound understanding of artistic sensibilities. Elisabeth Lauffer's luminous translation from the German is richly resourceful. This slender book is utterly captivating and highly recommended."
—Jewish Book Council
"This intense and exciting book brings back to life the voice of Ludwig Pollak who, when confronted with Nazi-occupied Rome's grim reality, powerfully conveys a taste for collecting, the pleasure of erudition, and an unshakeable faith in culture. This period of European history—remarkably captured here by Hans von Trotha—still has much to tell us."
—Salvatore Settis, chairman of the Louvre Museum Scientific Council and author of Laocoön and If Venice Dies
"Hans von Trotha has composed a small jewel of a novel. Set as the Holocaust reaches Rome in October 1943, it quietly evokes an archaeologist's reflections on a European life of scholarship and art. The result is physical death for him and his family. Yet this book offers vivid testimony of his words and actions in defense of humane culture against barbarism."
—R. J. B. Bosworth, author of Mussolini and The Oxford Handbook of Fascism
"This enthralling novel describes an undying passion for antiquity with an underlying theme of great poignancy. A great read."
—Philippe de Montebello, former director, Metropolitan Museum of Art
"Powerful ... Belongs in the category of literary works that obsessively reflect on a work of visual art, like Thomas Bernhard’s Old Masters: A Comedy. Any summary of the richness of the dialogue ... would be an understatement."
—Reading in Translation
"Pollak's Arm is a thought-provoking, though intense, reading experience. Much like a particularly striking work of art, it will leave an imprint on you long after the close of its final pages."
—The Canadian Jewish News
"A book every traveler to Rome should put in their luggage."
—Märkische Oderzeitung
"Exciting and extremely moving."
—Westdeutscher Rundfunk
"Something special, that is, above all, something that will stimulate your thoughts ... The book is a treasure trove for those interested in art history ... With an intensely packed narrative, the very substantial novel deserves to be read twice."
—Literatur Kritik
★ 2021-11-16
This historical novel depicts a few hours and many memories in the life of a Jewish art dealer.
Ludwig Pollak, an Austrian antiquities dealer and museum director in Rome, gained fame in the art world in 1906 for finding the missing right arm of the father figure in the classical sculpture Laocoön and His Sons, which stands in the Vatican Museums. In his fictional debut, von Trotha, a German historian and former book-publishing executive, imagines an encounter on Oct. 17, 1943, between a Vatican emissary identified only as K. and Pollak at the latter’s Rome apartment. K., who narrates the meeting, has been sent to offer Pollak and his family sanctuary in Vatican City because the Nazis will soon start rounding up Jews in the city. But K. is frustrated in his efforts, as Pollak, who is 75, uses the occasion to reminisce about catalogs he has written, collectors he has dealt with, and the turns his life has taken amid the growing pressures of antisemitism. His monologues are occasionally interrupted by the intrigued but increasingly nervous K., who has a car waiting outside and knows they should get going before curfew. The novel resembles a one-act play with two main performers and other figures made present by allusion and eloquence. Here they include Pollak’s memories of Rodin, Richard Strauss, and J.P. Morgan, among others, and his admiration of Goethe, who wrote an essay on the Laocoön group. The old man can sound proud, pompous, erudite, aloof, but he isn’t indulging in nostalgia for his greatest hits. He feels compelled to give a personal account of his life, regarding this as a duty more important than fleeing ahead of the Nazi roundup. Von Trotha had access to Pollak’s diaries, letters, and archival material, and he benefits from a smooth translation by Lauffer. He achieves much in this slim book, capturing a life enriched by its commitment to art and antiquities and a man who makes an unusual decision when faced with a crucial choice.
A work that weaves art and history into a fascinating tale.
