Berlin Alexanderplatz / Alfred Döblin ; translated from the German and with an afterword by Michael Hofmann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Döblin, Alfred, 1878-1957, author.

Contributor:

Hofmann, Michael, 1957 August 25- translator.

Series:

New York Review Books classics

Standardized Title:

Berlin Alexanderplatz. English

Language:

English

German

Subjects (All):

Political fiction.

Genre:

Thrillers (Fiction)

Detective and mystery fiction.

Nonfiction.

Novels.

Physical Description:

457 pages ; 21 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : New York Review Books, [2018]

Summary:

"The inspiration for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's epic film and that The Guardian named one of the "Top 100 Books of All Time," Berlin Alexanderplatz is considered one of the most important works of the Weimar Republic and twentieth century literature. Franz Biberkopf, pimp and petty thief, has just finished serving a term in prison for murdering his girlfriend. He's on his own in Weimar Berlin with its lousy economy and frontier morality, but Franz is determined to turn over new leaf, get ahead, make an honest man of himself, and so on and so forth. He hawks papers, chases girls, needs and bleeds money, gets mixed up in spite of himself in various criminal and political schemes, and when he tries to back out of them, it's at the cost of an arm. This is only the beginning of our modern everyman's multiplying misfortunes, but though Franz is more dupe than hustler, in the end, well, persistence is rewarded and things might be said to work out. Just like in a novel. Lucky Franz.Berlin, Alexanderplatz is one of great twentieth-century novels. Taking off from the work of Dos Passos and Joyce, Doblin depicts modern life in all its shocking violence, corruption, splendor, and horror. Michael Hofmann, celebrated for his translations of Joseph Roth and Franz Kafka, has prepared a new version, the first in over 75 years, in which Doblin's sublime and scurrilous masterpiece comes alive in English as never before"-- Provided by publisher.

"Franz Biberkopf, pimp and petty thief, has just finished serving a term in prison for murdering his girlfriend. He's on his own in Weimar Berlin with its lousy economy and frontier morality, but Franz is determined to turn over new leaf, get ahead, make an honest man of himself, and so on and so forth. He hawks papers, chases girls, needs and bleeds money, gets mixed up in various criminal and political schemes in spite of himself, and when he tries to back out of them, it's at the cost of an arm. This is only the beginning of our modern everyman's multiplying misfortunes, but though Franz is more dupe than hustler, in the end, well, persistence is rewarded and things might be said to work out. Just like in a novel. Lucky Franz. Berlin Alexanderplatz is one of great twentieth-century novels. Taking off from the work of John Dos Passos and James Joyce, Alfred D.

Contents:

Chapter 1 3

The 41 tram into the city

Still not there

The example of Zannovich

The story is concluded in an unexpected way; helping the freed man to acquire new strength

Markets opening directionless, gradually drifting lower, Hamburg out of bed the wrong side, London continuing weak

Victory all along the line! Franz Biberkopfy buys a veal escalope

In which Franz swears to all the world and himself, to remain decent in Berlin, money or not

Chapter 2 37

Franz Biberkopf enters Berlin

Franz Biberkopf is on the job market, you need to earn money, a man can't live without money. And all about the Frankfurt Topfmarket

Lina takes it to the queers

The Neue Welt, in Hassenheide, if it's not one thing it's another, no need to make life any harder than what it is already

Franz is a man of some scale, and he knows what's what

The scale of this Franz Biberkopf. A match for the heroes of old

Chapter 3 95

Yesterday on the backs of steeds ...

Today, shot through the chest he bleeds

Tomorrow in the chill tomb, no, we'll keep our composure

Chapter 4 111

A handful of people round the Alex

Biberkopf anaesthetized, Franz curls up, Franz doesn't want to see anything

Franz, on the retreat, plays a farewell march for the Jews

For as with animals, so it is with man; the one must die, the other likewise

Conversation with Job, it's up to you, Job, you don't want to

And they all have one breath, and man has no more than the beasts

Franz's window is open, sometimes amusing things happen in the world

Hopp, hopp, hopp, horsey does gallop

Chapter 5 153

Reunion on the Alex, bitching cold. Though next year, 1929, will be even colder

Nothing for a while, pause for rest and recuperation

Booming trade in girls

Franz reflects on the trade in women, and suddenly he's had enough, and wants something else

Local news

Franz takes a calamitous decision. He fails to realize he is sitting in a nettle patch

Sunday, 8 April 1928

Chapter 6 203

Crime pays

The night of Sunday

Monday, 9 April

Franz won't go down, and they can't make him go down

Get up, you feeble spirit, and stand on your own two feet

Third conquest of Berlin

Clothes make people, and a new person gets a new set of eyes

A new person gets a new head as well

A new man needs a new job or he needs none at all

A girl shows up, and now Franz is back to strength

Defensive war against bourgeois values

Conspiracy of females, our dear ladies take the floor, the heart of Europe is unchanged

Enough politics, idleness is much more dangerous

The fly clambers up, shaking the sand from its wings; before long it will buzz some more

Forward, in step, drum roll and battalions

The fist on the table

Chapter 7 287

Pussi Uhl, the flood of American visitors, and do you write Wilma with a V or a W?

The duel begins! It continues rainy

Franz breaking and entering, Franz not under the wheels, he's in the box seat now, he's made it

Love's weal and woe

Dazzling harvest in prospect, but miscalculations have been known to happen

Wednesday, 29 August

Saturday, 1 September

Chapter 8 341

Franz notices nothing, and the world goes on its way

A few bonds are loosened, the criminals fall out among themselves

Keep your eyes on Karl the plumber: something's going on with him

Things come to a head, plumber Karl gets caught and spills some beans

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun

And behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter

Then I praised the dead which are already dead

The fortress is completely surrounded, the last sallies are undertaken, but they are nothing but diversionary tactics

Battle is joined. We ride into hell with a great fanfare

The Police HQ is on Alexanderplatz

Chapter 9 397

Reinhold's Black Wednesday-but this section can be skipped

Buch insane asylum, closed ward

Dextrose and camphor injections, but in the end a different consultant is involved

Death sings his slow, slow song

And now Franz hears the slow song of Death

In which is described what pain is

Departure of the evil harlot, triumph of the great sacrifice, drummer and axe-swinger

Beginnings are difficult

Dear Fatherland, don't worry, I shan't slip again in a hurry

And by the right quick march left right left right.

ISBN:

9781681371993

1681371995

OCLC:

1005827444