"A relentlessly consistent political satire (...) Dialogues of ludicrous logic and episodes full of grotesque comedy (...) It simply takes your breath away. A dystopia full of cynical wit and imaginative science fiction elements, and of truly frightening relevance." Jutta Duhm-Heitzmann, WDR 5
Newly discovered manuscript from 1955 – an astonishing novel on the border between satire, science fiction and political thriller by exiled author Justin Steinfeld (1886–1970)
Everything revolves around Califa, or CLF for short. The military leadership in Nomandy, on the other side of the ocean, has access to the new nuclear-capable element – but what about Cistransatia, the enemy to the east? In the heated atmosphere of a divided continent, where the world powers are drawing closer to each other at the zonal borders of Potatis, occupied since the war, every decision seems to have incalculable consequences. The stock exchange on Sea Street is unexpectedly closed to peg the currency to Califa, a restless member of parliament senses war and becomes a problem, Cistransatian scientists develop a gas defense shield and initiate the evacuation to the underground Hestermann City. Because at the Politburo’s conference table, the «Old Man» must be informed that there is no CLF in Cistransatia – but nobody in Nomandy knows that…
This novel, written by Justin Steinfeld in England in 1955 but never published, is now being released for the first time. The manuscript was forgotten and has only recently been rediscovered. In times of war in Europe and renewed talk of the nuclear threat, Califa reads as disturbingly relevant and, in its combination of socialist realism and satire, science fiction and alternate history, surprisingly modern. Steinfeld’s conclusion is confirmed: as long as there are nations and thus nationalism, there will be war.