The Web of the Spider is the first novel by Joseph Roth, already revealing the talent and uniqueness of style that ranks the author among the most significant artisans of language.

The hero of the novel is an insignificant little man, Theodor Loose: a nationalist, informant, member of murderous paramilitary organizations, a tool of every powerful figure, not out of conviction, but from a desire to rise by any means.

Roth, with penetrating insight and subtle sarcasm, psychographs his hero, simultaneously describing with impressive accuracy the atmosphere of the era that birthed fascism, whose similarities with today highlight the timelessness of this classic work.

The book was written in 1923 and published in installments in the socialist newspaper of Vienna Arbeiter-Zeitung in October and November of the same year. Just two days later, exactly what Roth prophetically exorcises in the work occurred: the Hitler-Ludendorff coup.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]