Ödön von Horváth

"This important, never-before-translated work by a major yet overlooked mid-20th century writer, is a brutally funny look at the human comedy on the eve of Europe's descent into Fascism. A classic, prescient work of pre-WWII literature by a major Weimar author about a young man who is a failed used car salesman. In search of another means to live the high life, he decides to travel by train from Berlin to Madrid to see the World's Fair--and hopefully meet a beautiful, rich woman who will provide for his every whim. It's a highly stylized, and at times raucously funny, tale of the almost-absurd: a dark and satiric look at Europeans, and especially Germans, from all levels of society on the brink of cataclysmic Fascism. And as such, it is, perhaps, the most significant work of this important writer's oeuvre. Von Horváth's work fearlessly tried to warn of the dangers of rising fascism and the militarization of Europe (which led to his having to flee Germany and Austria suc- cessively). His characters here are adrift in their acquisitive desires, making them vulnerable to the manipulations and propaganda of the State--and making this novel brilliantly foresightful in its understanding of politics and human nature at a crucial point in modern European history"--

Jugend ohne Gott ist der dritte Roman des österreich-ungarischen Schriftstellers Ödön von Horváth. Er erschien im Jahr 1937 und wurde kurz danach, Anfang des Jahres 1938, in acht weitere Sprachen übersetzt. (Quelle: [Wikipedia](

Horváth enjoyed immediate success with his folk comedy Tales from the Vienna Woods, which premiered in Berlin in 1931, and also assured his legacy, for it remains to this day among the most frequently staged plays in German-language theater. The volume traces the complex genesis of Tales from the Vienna Woods from early preliminary work through five drafts up to the two final versions.