The Shmutz: CBE Writers Get Real
Keiron Pim on Endless Flight in conversation with Casey Schwartz
Thursday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m.
CBE Chapel, 274 Garfield Place
At CBE, we count many acclaimed authors, journalists, and screenwriters among our membership. We hope you will join us for our series The Shmutz, where the writers in our midst will introduce us to the books, ideas, and authors they can’t stop thinking about.
This June, CBE member author Casey Schwartz will be in conversation with Keiron Pim, discussing his extraordinary book Endless Flight: the Genius and Tragedy of Joseph Roth, the first English-language biography of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers—called by critics "utterly engrossing," "fascinating, sophisticated, meticulous," and "an enthralling, roller-coaster read."
The event is free and open to the public. A wine and cheese reception will follow the event, with signed books available to purchase. Please register in advance.
About Endless Flight: the Genius and Tragedy of Joseph Roth
The mercurial, self-mythologizing novelist and journalist Joseph Roth, author of the 20th-century masterpiece The Radetzky March, was the finest observer and chronicler of his age. Endless Flight travels with Roth from his childhood in the town of Brody on the eastern edge of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to an unsettled life spent roaming Europe between the wars, including spells in Vienna, Paris, and Berlin. His decline mirrored the collapse of civilized Europe: in his last peripatetic decade, he opposed Nazism in exile from Germany, his wife succumbed to schizophrenia, and he died an alcoholic on the eve of World War II.
Exploring the role of Roth's absent father in his imaginings, his attitude to his Jewishness, and his restless search for home, Keiron Pim's gripping account of Roth's chaotic life speaks powerfully to us in our era of uncertainty, refugee crises, and rising ethno-nationalism. Published as Roth's works rapidly gain new readers and recognition, Endless Flight delivers a visceral portrait of his quest for belonging, and a thorough understanding of the brilliance and beauty of his work.
Keiron Pim is the author of Endless Flight: the Genius and Tragedy of Joseph Roth, and the critically acclaimed Jumpin' Jack Flash: David Litvinoff and the Rock'n'Roll Underworld, which was longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and shortlisted in the Wales Book of the Year Awards' category for Creative Non-Fiction. He has written for the Guardian, Daily Telegraph, and Spectator. Alongside his writing, Pim works as a tutor on the Creative Writing MA at University of East Anglia, and as a proofreader and editor. He lives in Norwich, England with his wife and three daughters.
Casey Schwartz is the author of In the Mind Fields and Attention: A Love Story. She writes regularly for the New York Times.