Hans Fallada

[Stewart]

Hans Fallada (July 21, 1893 - February 5, 1947), born Rudolf Wilhelm Adolf Ditzen in Greifswald, was one of the most famous German writers of the 20th century. His novel, Little Man, What Now? is generally considered his most famous work and is a classic of German literature.

Fallada's last novel, Jeder stirbt f?r sich allein, published soon after his death in 1947, has been given an English translation and is due to appear in the US as Every Man Dies Alone and in the UK as Alone In Berlin. It's translated by Michael Hofmann.

Apparently Melville House have plans to publish further translations of Fallada, which is encouraging as he published over twenty books in his lifetime, only a couple of which (Little Man, What Now? and The Drinker) having seen an English translation in the past.

[liehtzu]

only a couple of which (Little Man, What Now? and The Drinker) having seen an English translation in the past.

Huh. Little Man, What Now? was one of the terrific Frank Borzage-directed James Stewart-Margaret Sullavan pictures of the 1930s (sadly, none of which are available on DVD).

[Clarissa]

Hans Fallada's anti-Nazi classic becomes surprise UK bestseller | Books | The Observer

Has anyone read this? Mirabell?

A pleasant surprise to see that an unknown German book should have become such a success in translation. Some publishers actually publish for the love of books and not just for commercial success. Great to see the two combined! I have put it on my list for books to buy.

[learna]

I just looked through some information about Hans Fallada. He had a very dramatic life. If it is true he tried to commit suicide with his friend and after that he was put in the mental institution.

I read that his Kleiner Mann ? was nun? is considered as his main work.

[Stevie B]

Hans Fallada's anti-Nazi classic becomes surprise UK bestseller | Books | The Observer

Has anyone read this? Mirabell?

A pleasant surprise to see that an unknown German book should have become such a success in translation. Some publishers actually publish for the love of books and not just for commercial success. Great to see the two combined! I have put it on my list for books to buy.

I borrowed this novel from the library (in the States, it was published as Every Man Dies Alone), and let it sit on my nightstand for too long. When I was about 1/3 of the way through the book, the due date arrived, but I was unable to renew since there were already three people on the waiting list. Perhaps taking a break from the bleakness will prove to be a good thing, but I do look forward to continuing with the novel (though I recall Harry abandoned the book due its steady diet of misery).

[hdw]

I borrowed this novel from the library (in the States, it was published as Every Man Dies Alone), and let it sit on my nightstand for too long. When I was about 1/3 of the way through the book, the due date arrived, but I was unable to renew since there were already three people on the waiting list. Perhaps taking a break from the bleakness will prove to be a good thing, but I do look forward to continuing with the novel (though I do recall Harry abandoned the book due to the steady diet of misery it contains).

Yes, see my post on "Which novels have you abandoned, and why?" on 06 May.

Harry

[Mirabell]

I read that his Kleiner Mann ? was nun? is considered as his main work.

Yes, it is, and it's also his best book by a very, very, very wide margin.

[Stevie B]

Yes, it is, and it's also his best book by a very, very, very wide margin.

Has this book been translated into English?

[Mirabell]

Has this book been translated into English?

Little Man, What Now? (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazon.com: Little Man, What Now? (9781933633640): Hans Fallada, Susan Bennett: Books

[chrisphillips]

About two years ago the BBC's weekly book programme on Radio 4 interviewed Beryl Bainbridge (I think) about Fallada. At this stage I'd never heard of him and none of his books had UK releases. She chose The Drinker as her favourite. Then I went to work abroad for six months and had a few days in New York soon after, where I was delighted to pick up the US release of The Drinker. It has remained on my to be read pile since, mostly because it's a large paperback difficult to carry around. A week or two ago I found Alone In Berlin packaged essentially as a thriller here in the UK with a blurb almost worthy of James Patterson to boot. It's very attractively put together though, so I bought it. I'm 140 or so pages in and thought it's rough around the edges, it's very compelling stuff. There are no heroes, despite heroic acts, such are the flaws in these ordinary people. It has certainly been translated into British though, rather than English, if that make sense. I'm not sure how words like 'mate' and 'bloody' really fit into Berlin in 1940. That's hardly Fallada's fault though.

Damned interesting life he had.

[learna]

Yes, it is, and it's also his best book by a very, very, very wide margin.

This morning I have obtained Kleiner Mann — was nun? as an ebook.

I read that there are two film versions of that book.

[hdw]

Fallada's Alone in Berlin is being serialised on Radio 4 on Sunday afternoons. Started today, final part next Sunday.

Harry

[Bjorn]

Fallada's letters found, will be made available over the net.

[Clarissa]

Interestingly enough, in today's news: the publisher of Alone in Berlin (Jeder stirbt für sich allein) is bringing it out again but this time without the heavy cuts and editing that took place for political reasons when it was first published in East Germany in 1947.The original was 800 pages long, the version that came out shortly after Fallada died was 700.


http://orf.at/stories/2045053/2044976/ (for those who know German)

[Mirabell]

Interestingly enough, in today's news: the publisher of Alone in Berlin (Jeder stirbt für sich allein) is bringing it out again but this time without the heavy cuts and editing that took place for political reasons when it was first published in East Germany in 1947.The original was 800 pages long, the version that came out shortly after Fallada died was 700.


http://orf.at/stories/2045053/2044976/ (for those who know German)

excellent. It's such a distorted, white-washing sort of history, but that seems to be due to mandated changes. Looking forward to the new editon!

[Eric]

"Mandated changes". You mean: censorship? See:

http://www.uibk.ac.at/germanistik/hi...draufsatz.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_East_Germany

[Clarissa]

Eric, 'political reasons', 'mandated changes' 1947 East Germany, now what do you think?