Summary
Leo Perutz: The Snow of Saint Peter
This is the third novel by Leo Perutz (1882-1957) that appears before our readers. When first published in 1933, it fared poorly compared to his earlier bestsellers. After the Nazis came to power, all books by Perutz's publisher Zsolnay were declared undesirable for distribution in German bookstores, thus reducing his readership mainly to Austria. It experienced renewed reception, along with other Perutz novels, only at the end of the eighties of the last century. This is certainly a shame, because "The Snow of St. Peter" deals with various topics that were extremely relevant at the time of its creation, but also decades later, and the motif hinted at in the title is used in an almost visionary way. Later novels, from The Swedish Horseman to Leonardo's posthumously published Judas, did not deal with the contemporary moment.
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