First published in the US in 1932, The Sleepwalkers is about three protagonists "sleepwalking", that is, living between vanishing and emerging ethical systems just as the somnambulist exists in a state between sleeping and waking. Together they present a panorama of German society and its progressive deterioration of values that culminated in defeat and collapse at the end of World War I. The novel explores what Broch described as "the loneliness of the I" in its three parts. The protagonists of the first two ...
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First published in the US in 1932, The Sleepwalkers is about three protagonists "sleepwalking", that is, living between vanishing and emerging ethical systems just as the somnambulist exists in a state between sleeping and waking. Together they present a panorama of German society and its progressive deterioration of values that culminated in defeat and collapse at the end of World War I. The novel explores what Broch described as "the loneliness of the I" in its three parts. The protagonists of the first two parts of the book are represented as holding to certain sets of values. Broch describes the struggles they undergo as their codes for living, or values, prove inadequate to the realities of the social environment they find themselves in. Joachim von Pasenow in the first part is "the romantic". In the second part, August Esch tries to live according to the motto "business is business". Eventually, in the third part, the amoral Huguenau's only standard for behavior is his personal profit. He follows this maxim in all his actions, swindling and murdering without remorse. Ultimately, he reaches a point of zero values without remorse and his dealings bring him finally to the zero point of values. Although Broch doesn't hold Huguenau up as someone to admire, he does present him as the inevitable harbinger of fascism. As one reviewer noted, "His characters are sleepwalkers because their own lives are shaped by the forces of the nightmare reality in which they live."
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Add this copy of The Sleepwalkers (Vintage International) to cart. $8.95, fair condition, Sold by Goodwill Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hillsboro, OR, UNITED STATES, published 1996 by Vintage.
Add this copy of The Sleepwalkers (English and German Edition) to cart. $9.44, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1985 by Farrar Straus & Giroux.
Add this copy of The Sleepwalkers (English and German Edition) to cart. $9.44, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 1985 by Farrar Straus & Giroux.
Add this copy of The Sleepwalkers (English and German Edition) to cart. $9.44, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 1985 by Farrar Straus & Giroux.
Add this copy of The Sleepwalkers (English and German Edition) to cart. $9.46, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Diamond rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1985 by Farrar Straus & Giroux.
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Add this copy of The Sleepwalkers to cart. $11.89, fair condition, Sold by New England Booksellers rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Greenfield, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1985 by North Point Press.
Add this copy of The Sleepwalkers to cart. $12.74, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 1996 by Vintage.
Add this copy of The Sleepwalkers (English and German Edition) to cart. $13.45, good condition, Sold by Solr Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincolnwood, IL, UNITED STATES, published 1985 by Farrar Straus & Giroux.
Add this copy of The Sleepwalkers to cart. $15.00, very good condition, Sold by Weller Book Works, A.B.A.A. rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Salt Lake City, UT, UNITED STATES, published 1986 by Quartet Books.
