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Calamities of Exile

Three Nonfiction Novellas

From the author of Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder, Calamities of Exile combines three gripping narratives that afford a sort of double CAT scan into the natures of both modern totalitarianism and timeless exile.

"Beautiful but harrowing chronicles of three exiles that probe the moral and personal risks of their encounters with totalitarianism. . . . Piercing and timely."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Weschler . . . combines a novelist’s gift for drama with the objectivity and research skills of a journalist. . . . The result is three gripping profiles of very human but also extraordinary men."—Publishers Weekly

"[Weschler’s] thorough accounting of the men’s covert operations, assumed identities and strained relationships with fathers, wives, and colleagues creates a disturbing triptych of the perils of totalitarianism."—Lance Gould, New York Times Book Review

"Weschler tells these three tragic tales with an admirable combination of psychological penetration, intellectual thrust, concision and compassion."—Francis King, Spectator

"Endlessly absorbing. . . . Breathtaking."—Jeri Laber, Los Angeles Times Book Review

211 pages | 3 halftones | 6 x 8-1/2 | © 1998

History: General History

Table of Contents

Preface
Oedipus in Samara: Kanan Makiya in and out of Iraq, 1992
The Trials of Jan K.: Jan Kavan in and out of Czechoslovakia, 1992
A Horrible Face, But One’s Own: Breyten Breytenbach in and out of South Africa, 1993
Index

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