Rates of Exchange

Style and Technique

Malcolm Bradbury’s style in «Rates of Exchange» is refined and multi-layered, imbued with irony and subtle satire, allowing the author to brilliantly expose the absurdity of the bureaucratic world of a fictional Eastern European country. The language of the novel is flexible and expressive: Bradbury expertly balances light grotesque with precise detail, enriching the narrative with wordplay, allusions, and cultural references. The dialogues are witty, and the narrative alternates between outwardly comic situations and deep reflections on the nature of language, identity, and cultural differences. The author skillfully employs parody and hyperbole, creating an atmosphere of the theater of the absurd, where every word and gesture has a double meaning. The structure of the novel is fragmentary, built on a series of episodes linked by the protagonist’s journey, allowing Bradbury to move freely between different narrative registers, combining elements of farce with philosophical observations and subtle psychological sketches.