Category Archives: German

Marie Vassilitchikov, “Berlin Diaries 1940-1945”

Posted on March 25, 2014 by carolwallace

I cast around rather wildly to find background reading for a recent week in Berlin. Friends loaned or gave us novels, guidebooks, recommendations. Beloved Husband settled on a massive history of Prussia called The Iron Kingdom and I spent a … Continue reading →

Posted in German, memoir | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Theodor Fontane, “Irretrievable”

Posted on March 6, 2011 by carolwallace

Isn’t that a terrific title for a novel about a marriage going bad? Especially, I think, for a novel published in 1891, when I would have expected something wordier. The German is Unwiederbringlich which, if you break down the German … Continue reading →

Posted in classic, German | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Thomas Mann, “Death in Venice”

Posted on February 12, 2011 by carolwallace

There’s a great deal to be said for discovering classics at a mature age. Many of my university classmates (among them my husband) read Death in Venice for a seminar on European literature freshman year, and some of them will, … Continue reading →

Posted in classic, German | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Joseph Roth, “The Radetzky March”

Posted on January 11, 2011 by carolwallace

In a scene about three-quarters of the way through The Radetzky March , Joseph Roth shows us the old Emperor Franz Joseph reviewing troops in an eastern portion of the empire. The Emperor loves his troops, loves the noise, the pageantry, … Continue reading →

Posted in German, literary fiction | Tagged , | 2 Comments