I'm Not Stiller

The classic German novel with a narrator as “treacherous, evasive and compelling as an Edgar Allan Poe murderer or a Raymond Chandler detective” (The New York Times).

The unabridged version of a haunting story of a man in prison. His wife, brother, and mistress recognize him and call him by his name, Anatol Ludwig Stiller. But he rejects them, repeatedly insisting that he’s not Stiller. Could he possibly be right—or is he deliberately trying to shake off his old identity and assume a new one?

“The novel intertwines a classic tale of mistaken identity with high comedy and postwar seriousness. Is Stiller’s testimony of his life the ‘unvarnished truth’ as he claims? Or is his version a last-ditch effort in deception—a denial of an identity he despises? We don’t know, and therein lies the beauty of experiencing I’m Not Stiller. For anyone who likes a narrator served unreliably, you must read this . . . we find ourselves actively piecing together the mystery of a man’s identity with much more delight and humor than any of Frisch’s postwar compatriots like Sartre or Camus.” —Alex Gilvarry, NPR, All Things Considered podcast

“Readers cannot but feel the force of what remains one of the most important novels of the post-war years.” —Times Literary Supplement

“A single consciousness contains multitudes: in fathoming it, Frisch evokes the complex reality of a dangerous and enthralling world.” —New Statesman

“A strange, speculative search for an identity and it progresses—on a parallel—at two levels . . . For the thoughtful reader, an enigma which has its subtler, deeper implications.” —Kirkus Reviews