October / Germany Reading Poll

[Scheherazade]

Please nominate the German books you would like to read by August 31.

Some information on the books:

The Caucasian Chalk Circle By Bertolt Brecht

Berlin Alexanderplatz by Döblin

The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum by H Boell

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind

Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The Death in Venice by T. Mann

Beneath the Wheel by Hesse

Galileo by Bertolt Brecht

The voting will end on September 30th.

[Niamh]

I nominate The Caucasian Chalk Circle By Bertolt Brecht

[Etienne]

Berlin Alexanderplatz by Döblin.

[Jozanny]

Berlin Alexanderplatz by Döblin.

My library has Doblin, but I will be a meek child and will not act at all for this thread. I cannot do one book a month, not even I.

[Etienne]

Yes, perhaps not you

[SleepyWitch]

oh shoot... I'm afraid I'll have to miss out on this due to my exams
so I'll refrain from nominating any book. here's some recommendations, though

Max and Moritz, by Wilhelm Busch, a famous 19th century cartoonist... one of the first authors to introduce comic strips, actually.
Wilhelm Busch is known for his deliberately cheap rhymes and tongue-in-cheek criticism of 19th century society.
I haven't read the English translation, though. So I can't tell you if it's any good

Theodor Fontane: Beyond Recall (Unwiederbringlich): unavailable on amazon.co.uk at the moment


Wolfgang Borchert: The Man Outside (Draußen vor der Tür)

The play

The Man Outside describes the hopelessness of a post-war soldier called Beckmann who returns from Russia to find that he has lost his wife and home, as well as his illusions and beliefs. He finds every door he comes to closed. Even the Elbe River rejects his suicide, washing him up on shore. [.......]

Due to its release during the sensitive immediate postwar period, Borchert subtitled his play "A play that no theatre wants to perform and no audience wants to see." Despite this, the first radio broadcast (February 1947) was very successful. The first theatrical showing of The Man Outside (at the Hamburger Kammerspiele) opened on the day after Borchert's death, November 21, 1947.

The play consists of five scenes in one act. It makes use of expressionist styling and even of Brechtian techniques, such as the Verfremdungseffekt (defamiliarization effect) to disorient and engage its audience.

Gudrun Pausewang: Fallout (Die Wolke), a young adults book

When a nuclear accident takes place at the Grafenrheinfeld nuclear power station, people are advised to stay inside and close all windows and doors. Janna, 14, left alone to look after her little brother in a world gone mad, must make decisions that will mean life or death for them both.

The Final Journey

Alice, a German Jewish girl, has been protected by her family from knowing the fate of the Jews in war-torn Germany. As her journey to Auschwitz begins, she starts to understand why she has been kept in hiding for so long and to realize the threat to the Jewish population in Germany.

for those(select few ) of you can read German and would like to read a German book outside the bookclub, I'd recommend Rafik Schami, a German Syrian writer, e.g. Die Sehnsucht der Schwalbe (a collection of stories about the immigrant experience in Germany)

Erich Kästner: Fabian - The Story of a Moralist

The book is, by all accounts, a pretty accurate picture of the decadence rampant in Berlin during the Weimar era. Entitled "The story of a moralist", Jakob Fabian finds himself unemployed and moving ever closer to the edges of society. Frequenting seedy night clubs and bars, he tries to shun the vices that are constantly swirling about, eventually becoming romantically involved to a neighbor who, in the end tragically succumbs to the underground world that is Weimar Berlin. This leaves Jakob alone and on the very edge of losing all sense of self.

Max Frisch (Swiss writer): Homo Faber

The novel tells the story of a middle-class UNESCO engineer called Walter Faber, who believes in rational, calculated world. Strange events undermine his security...

[Virgil]

I think you're only allowed one nomination Sleepy. So make your best pick.


Is the criteria all German language novels or does the author have to be specifically from Germany? Do Czechoslovakian or Austrian authors count? Many wrote in German I believe.

[SleepyWitch]

I think you're only allowed one nomination Sleepy. So make your best pick.

hehe, look at the beginning of my first post up there again

[Virgil]

oh shoot... I'm afraid I'll have to miss out on this due to my exams
so I'll refrain from nominating any book. here's some recommendations, though

hehe, look at the beginning of my first post up there again

Sorry. I only look at the list.

[manolia]

I'd like to nominate

Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum (The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum) by H Boell

[Scheherazade]

I would like to nominate The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass.

[Jozanny]

I would like to nominate The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass.

And you're doing this to torture me?

Actually, it is, in its way, a beautiful parable, simple though it is.
The moderator has my support! Any insurrection will not be tolerated!

[Scheherazade]

Nominations so far:

1. The Caucasian Chalk Circle By Bertolt Brecht

2. Berlin Alexanderplatz by Döblin

3. The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum by H Boell

4. The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass

[Niamh]

Seeing as this year its by Country Virgil, i think it is safe to say that it is just authors from Germany.

[thelastmelon]

Is it okay to nominate a novella?

If it is, I'd like to nominate The Pigeon by Patrick Süskind.