In the Shadow of the Apocalypse

In 1948, Dinu Pillat finished the novel that would become the centerpiece of a trial that would lead to years of imprisonment and, possibly, his death by cancer. That novel was then stashed away in the archives of the Romanian secret service and would not be recovered until 2010. Now, after nearly a hundred years, it has been translated into English, and at no better time.

In the Shadow of the Apocalypse recounts, over the span of a year, the radicalization of young men as their country teeters on the brink of falling to a dictatorship. Its style is very much of its time and place, and will therefore stand out from popular American fiction. For some, this will make it dull and perhaps impenetrable. For others, however, it will be a breath of fresh air, a different (to our eyes) way of looking at an age-old problem that is now rearing its head across the world yet again.

It’s rare that a novel is able to be both timeless and timely. All too often, one must be sacrificed for the sake of the other. In the Shadow of the Apocalypse is one of the few that can be both.