Joseph Roth: Perlefter: The Story of A Bourgeois

Let us assume that Chapter X would have also provided a short summary of Bidak’s failed life in the United States, and then presumably in Chapter XI we would have been back to the ‘present’ of the early 1920s with Bidak’s return to Europe at the age of forty-two. He has not arrived at the most opportune time, as Perlefter is in the sanatorium recovering from various ‘calamities’. The mere fact that Bidak has returned indicates that he has failed at making a proper life for himself and his family. We must assume that Perlefter and Bidak will meet again. What will their interplay be? Is Tante Sammet still alive? Will Bidak be looking for money once again? Will Perlefter hire him?

And what becomes of Julie? The last we hear of her the dentist is about to become engaged to her. These are questions that are more difficult to answer. Perhaps Roth abandoned this novel when he realized that bringing in Bidak, however interesting a character, had seemed like a good idea but was now limiting how he could handle the remainder of the book. Roth was clearly intrigued by him, having devoted two full chapters and the start of a third to Bidak.

Ultimately, speculation aside, we must take Perlefter at face value, just as it was discovered, just as Roth left it in 1929. We can be thankful that we have Perlefter and at the same time not too displeased or disappointed that Roth ceased work on it, because even unfinished it stands as a fine addition to the Roth oeuvre.

Besides, while he may not have finished Perlefter, he started immediately on another project, a masterpiece called Job.

Richard Panchyk is the author, editor or translator of twenty-three books, including World War II for Kids, German New York City, Forgotten Tales of Long Island and Keys to American History, as well as a study on Jewish assimilation and name change in the Austrian Empire during the nineteenth century. He produced new translations of The Antichrist and The Hundred Days by Joseph Roth — to whom he is distantly related — both of which were published by Peter Owen.