“He was a man who walked. That was all. He walked and walked and walked.” Chapter 1: The Narrator’s Childhood The unnamed narrator recalls his childhood in a […]
German literature
The Pigeon
“A pigeon had settled on the windowsill. It was gray, with a dirty white breast, and it sat there motionless, as if it had been sitting there forever.” […]
German literature
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
“He who ruled scent ruled the hearts of men.” Chapter 1: Birth of a Monster Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born in 18th-century Paris under the foulest conditions—amid fish guts […]
German literature
Night in Lisbon
“There are nights when the whole world seems to be a vast, dark labyrinth, and you are lost in it.” Chapter 1: The Encounter A nameless narrator, a […]
German literature
The Black Obelisk
“The dead are always wrong. They should have stayed alive.” Chapter 1: Post-War Germany Ludwig Bodmer, a young veteran of World War I, works at a monument company […]
German literature
Arch of Triumph
“A man can bear almost anything if he has to.” The novel follows Dr. Ravic, a German refugee surgeon living in Paris under a false identity after fleeing […]
German literature
The Road Back
“We were eighteen and had begun to love life and the world; and we had to shoot it to pieces.” Chapter 1: Return from the Front The novel […]
German literature
All Quiet on the Western Front
“This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face […]
German literature
The Three Leaps of Wang Lun
“The great leap is not in the body, but in the soul.” Part One: The Beginnings The novel opens in 18th-century China, where Wang Lun, a fisherman’s son, […]
German literature
Mountains, Seas and Giants
“The earth is a living thing, and we are its fever.” Part 1: The Collapse of Civilization The novel opens in a distant future where humanity has exhausted […]