“The pigeons on the grass alas.” – Gertrude Stein (Epigraph referenced in the novel) Chapter 1: A Post-War City in Fragments The novel opens in an unnamed German […]
German literature
Death in Rome
“Rome is the city of visible history, where the past of a whole hemisphere seems moving in funeral procession with strange ancestral images and trophies gathered from afar.” […]
German literature
On the Edge
“The abyss is always closer than you think.” Chapter 1: The Unraveling The novel opens with the protagonist, a middle-aged man named Thomas Clarin, standing on the edge […]
German literature
Seven Years
“People don’t change, they only reveal themselves.” Chapter 1: The Architect and His Life The novel opens with Alex, a successful architect in Munich, reflecting on his seemingly […]
German literature
Agnes
“You said you would make up a story about me. I said you didn’t know enough about me. You said that was the point.” Chapter 1: The Meeting […]
German literature
Fame
“Fame is a form of incomprehension, perhaps the worst.” — Daniel Kehlmann Fame by Daniel Kehlmann is a novel composed of interconnected stories that explore the nature of […]
German literature
Tyll
“The world is full of fools, and he who would not see it should live alone and smash his mirror.” Prologue The novel opens with Tyll Ulenspiegel as […]
German literature
Measuring the World
“The world was large, and yet it was measurable.” Chapter 1: The Prodigy and the Explorer The novel opens by introducing its two protagonists: Carl Friedrich Gauss, the […]
German literature
Look Who’s Back
“I opened my eyes. Unfamiliar ceiling. I sat up. Unfamiliar room. I stood up. Unfamiliar body.” Chapter 1: Awakening Adolf Hitler inexplicably wakes up in modern-day Berlin, disoriented […]
German literature
My Century
“Every year has its own voice, its own melody, and its own story to tell.” My Century by Günter Grass is a unique literary work that chronicles the […]