Irmgard Keun

"The last novel from the acclaimed author of The Artificial Silk Girl, this 1950 classic paints a delightfully shrewd portrait of postwar German society. Upon his release from a prisoner-of-war camp, Ferdinand Timpe returns somewhat uneasily to civilian life in Cologne. Having survived against the odds, he is now faced with a very different sort of dilemma: How to get rid of his fiance e? Although he certainly doesn't love the mild-mannered Luise, Ferdinand is too considerate to break off the engagement himself, so he sets about finding her a suitable replacement husband-no easy task given Luise's high standards and those of her father, formerly a proud middle-ranking Nazi official. Featuring a lively cast of characters-from Ferdinand's unscrupulous landlady with her black-market schemes to his beguiling cousin Johanna and the many loves of her life-Ferdinand captures a distinct moment in Germany's history, when its people were coming to terms with World War II and searching for a way forward. In Irmgard Keun's effervescent prose, the story feels remarkably modern"--

The story of Doris, beautiful and striving, who vows to write down all that happens to her as the star of her own life story. But instead of scripting what she hopes will be a quick rise to fame and fortune as either an actress or the mistress/wife of a wealthy man, she describes a slow descent into near prostitution and homelessness. Prewar Berlin is not the dazzling and exciting city of promise it seems; Doris unwittingly reveals a bleak, seamy urban landscape.

Der Band enthält Geschichten von Thomas Bergmann, Manfred Bieler, Heinrich Böll, Bertolt Brecht, Wolfgang Deichsel, F. C. Delius, Hans Fallada, Leonhard Frank, Wilhelm Genazino, Jakob Gillmann, Rolf Haufs, Franz Kafka, Erich Kästner, Irmgard Keun, Wolfgang Körner, Siegfried Kracauer, Werner Krauss, Michael Krüger, Alfred Lichtenstein, Emil Ludwig, Benno Meyer-Wehlack, Johanna Moosdorf, Karl Otto Mühl, Erika Ruckdäschel, Rosi S., Hans Joachim Schädlich, Klaus Stiller, Jürgen Theobaldy, Carl Friedrich Treber, Kurt Tucholsky, Arnold Ulitz, Hermann Ungar, Klaus Wagenbach, Martin Walser, Robert Walser, Gabriele Wohmann, Gernot Wolfgruber und Gerhard Zwerenz.

"Sanna and her ravishing friend Gerti would rather speak of love than politics, but in 1930s Frankfurt, politics cannot be escaped--even in the lady's bathroom. Crossing town one evening to meet up with Gerti's Jewish lover, a blockade cuts off the girls' path--it is the Furher in a motorcade procession, and the crowd goes mad striving to catch a glimpse of Hitler's raised "empty hand." Then the parade is over, and in the long hours after midnight Sanna and Gerti will face betrayal, death, and the heartbreaking reality of being young in an era devoid of innocence or romance. In 1937, German author Irmgard Keun had only recently fled Nazi Germany with her lover Joseph Roth when she wrote this slim, exquisite, and devastating book. It captures the unbearable tension, contradictions, and hysteria of pre-war Germany like no other novel. Yet even as it exposes human folly, the book exudes a hopeful humanism. It is full of humor and light, even as it describes the first moments of a nightmare. After Midnight is a masterpiece that deserves to be read and remembered anew"--

The stirring, never-before-translated story of a single, pregnant, and wickedly nervy young secretary making her way through a Germany succumbing to the Nazis. Irmgard Keun's first novel "Gilgi "was an overnight sensation upon its initial publication in Germany, selling thousands of copies, inspiring numerous imitators, and making Keun a household name--a reputation that was only heightened when, a few years later, Keun sued the Gestapo for blocking her royalties. The story of a young woman trying to establish her independence in a society being overtaken by fascism, "Gilgi" was not only a brave story, but revolutionary in its depiction of women's issues, at the same time that it was, simply, an absorbing and stirring tale of a dauntless spirit. Gilgi is a secretary in a hosiery firm, but she doesn't intend to stay there for long: she's disciplined and ambitious, taking language classes, saving up money to go abroad, and carefully avoiding both the pawing of her boss and any other prolonged romantic entanglements. But then she falls in love with Martin, a charming drifter, and leaves her job for domestic bliss--which turns out not to be all that blissful-- and Gilgi finds herself pregnant and facing a number of moral dilemmas. Revolutionary at the time for its treatment of sexual harassment, abortion, single motherhood, and the "New Woman," "Gilgi" remains a perceptive and beautifully constructed novel about one woman's path to maturity. It is presented here in its first-ever translation into English.