Aristocrat : Boëtius von Orlamünde / Ernst Weiss ; translated, with an afterword, by Martin Chalmers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weiss, Ernst, 1882-1940.

Contributor:

Chalmers, Martin.

Series:

Extraordinary classics

Standardized Title:

Aristokrat English

Language:

English

German

Genre:

Fiction.

Physical Description:

202 pages ; 20 cm.

Other Title:

Boëtius von Orlamünde

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Serpent's Tail, 1994.

Summary:

The time: the summer of 1913. The place: House Onderkuhle, an exclusive boarding school for the sons of the aristocracy in eastern Belgium. The old order may be crumbling but at Onderkuhle training for a life of command goes unchallenged. The most important lessons: fencing, riding and, above all, the forms of etiquette - 'the refinements of aristocratic intercourse.' Boetius von Orlamunde distinguishes himself at all of these. He subdues his doubts by undertaking ever more extreme physical tests, climaxing in the breaking-in of the stallion Cyrus. On the night the school burns down, Boetius displays cowardice and forfeits nobility. Immediately recognised as a masterpiece on its first publication in 1928, The Aristocrat dissects the collapse of a world of rigid hierarchy and exposes the murderous perversity of those who persist in living by the old rules.

Notes:

"First published as Boëtius von Orlamünde in 1928 by S. Fischer, Berlin ; published as Der Aristokrat in 1930 by S. Fischer, Berlin"--T.p. verso.

ISBN:

1852422629

OCLC:

35835559