Atlantis

About this book

A physician boards a ship bound across the Atlantic while his private life is coming apart. Far from home, among strangers and the endless motion of the sea, he begins to lose the familiar shape of his own future.

Gerhart Hauptmann's novel follows a troubled man's passage through desire, instability and personal upheaval. The title refers to the ship on which the characters travel; the legendary sunken continent plays no part in their troubles. The ocean crossing gives its emotional story an immense and unsettled setting, where escape and disaster can feel alarmingly close.