We are not to be squeamish as to the ruthlessness of bureaucratic power, as Kafka knew prior to the Great War at the heart of Europe’s then federal empire. Ninety years later a new sullen federal Eurocracy, incorporating Britain, was in the making, based in Brussels, that brooked no subversion. Its parliament had decreed that Europe’s prisons should be vaster but fewer; and legislated capability to contain, if not stifle, ideological opponents upholding the sanctity of ethnicity, was at work. One such silenced opponent was Mary’s imprisoned lover.
Mary’s Visit
Published by Tom Stacey
"Tom Stacey’s adventurous life has given him extraordinary tales to tell. A born writer, he offers us reflective wisdom put down memorably and pleasurably in a unique voice. His work has been acclaimed by writers as varied as Nina Bawden, Sybille Bedford, Orville Prescott, Rowan Williams, Christopher Hill and John Gray who described The Man Who Knew Everything as ‘a near-forgotten masterpiece’ when naming it as his joint Book of the Year for the New Statesman – ‘one of the few books I’ve ever read that I finished in one sitting and then immediately had to read again’." View all posts by Tom Stacey
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