The Raymond Chandler of the final Philip Marlowe book is more brilliant than ever, but also burned out.

Alberto Moravia's tales of blue-collar Rome men in the postwar help explain neorealism.

Dino Buzzati's overlooked 1963 masterpiece is a perfect companion to La Dolce Vita.

David Malouf's all-but-forgotten collection of autobiographical essays is an exceptional pleasure.

Dying Max Blecher had time and will enough provide a remarkable "fictional" chronicle of his decline.

Jenny Erpenbeck denies death repeatedly to give a character a full 20th-century life.

Young Irish writer Colin Barrett's first book of short stories is an out-of-nowhere knockout.

Max Blecher's musing about the terrors of life, and youth, is a near-perfect voyage into sadness.

Kazuo Ishiguro's tame Arthurian allegory ultimately shortchanges its considerable promise.

What's growing up in 1950s suburban America without sorcerers and robots?

Tadeusz Konwicki's tragicomic reflection of a man about to burn himself alive transcends ideology.