In Matto's Realm

Description

Studer investigates when the director vanishes and a child murderer escapes from an insane asylum in Bern, an environment Glauser knew all too well from personal experience. Set in the 1920s, the novel explores the no-man's-land between reason and madness where Matto, the spirit of insanity, reigns. Dubions psychological theories and therapies abound and the asylum darkly mirrors the world outside.

Reviews

"Despairing plot about the reality of madness and life, leavened with strong doses of bittersweet irony.The idiosyncratic investigation and its laconic detective have not aged one iota" Guardian

Author description

Diagnosed a schizophrenic, addicted to morphine and opium, Glauser spent the greater part of his life in psychiatric wards, insane asylums and prison. His Sergeant Studer novels have cusured his place as a cult figure in Europe. Germany's most prestigious crime fiction award is called the Glauser prize. Mike Mitchell has translated some thirty books, including Simplicissimus by GrimmeIsbausen and all the novels of Gustav Mcyrink. He won the 1998 Schlegel-Tieck German translation prize.