Book Review
Title: Great German Short Novels and Stories
Editor: Bennett A. Cerf
Publisher: Modern Library
Date: 1933
ASIN: B000BTPSYS
This collection of German short novels and stories includes works by Thomas Mann (Death in Venice), Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (The Sorrows of Werther), Johann Von Schiller (The Sport of Destiny), Heinrich Heine (Gods in Exile), The Brothers Grimm (Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella), Ernst Hoffmann (The History of Krakatuk), Hermann Sudermann (The New Year’s Eve Confession), Arthur Schnitzler (The Fate of the Baron), Gerhart Hauptmann (Flagman Thiel), Jacob Wassermann (Lukardis), among others.
These novels and stories represent a wide variety of types, genres, times, and styles. Reading one after another created a feeling of a great journey over many time periods and across many regions of Germany. As editor Bennett Cerf says in the Introduction, “…the reader who goes through this collection from beginning to end will be able to form an impression of the whole of German literature that is comprehensive and sound” (vii).
From the Sturm und Drang sentimentality of Goethe’s Werther, to the moral tales of Schiller’s Destiny and Hauptmann’s Flagman, to the folklore of Hoffmann’s Krakatuk, the vibrant literary translations were very refreshing and made the book hard to put down. One need not be a special fan of German literature per se. The book is simply a wonderful experience of a lot of great stories.
There is something for most any taste in literature. My advice for starters would be the short, lively pieces with nice twists at the end, such as Schnitzler’s Fate of the Baron and Sudermann’s New Year’s Eve Confession. For a deeper experience in a more literary vein, Mann’s Death in Venice is the best choice.
The beauty of this series is that the hard part has been done for us. Readers don’t have to hunt for representative German authors and their works. The book gives us a readymade set of the best examples gathered into a convenient collection. Generally, of course, that is the very purpose of the Modern Library series and the objective of its editors such as Bennett Cerf. Cerf does a great job of accomplishing that objective in this German collection.