Nightmare in Berlin - Hardcover

Hans Fallada

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 192522838X ISBN 13: 9781925228380

Publisher: Scribe Publications, 2016

Synopsis

Available for the first time in English, here is an unforgettable portrayal by a master novelist of the physical and psychological devastation wrought in the homeland by Hitler’s war.

Late April, 1945. The war is over, yet Dr Doll, a loner and ‘moderate pessimist’, lives in constant fear. By night, he is haunted by nightmarish images of the bombsite in which he is trapped — he, and the rest of Germany. More than anything, he wishes to vanquish the demon of collective guilt, but he is unable to right any wrongs, especially in his position as mayor of a small town in north-east Germany that has been occupied by the Red Army.

Dr Doll flees for Berlin, where he finds escape in a morphine addiction: each dose is a ‘small death’. He tries to make his way in the chaos of a city torn apart by war, accompanied by his young wife, who shares his addiction. Fighting to save two lives, he tentatively begins to believe in a better future.

Written with Fallada’s distinctive power and vividness, Nightmare in Berlin captures the demoralised and desperate atmosphere of post-war Germany in a way that has never been matched or surpassed.

The translation of this work was supported by a grant from the Goethe-Institut which is funded by the German Ministry of the Arts.

About this title

About the Author

Hans Fallada (1893-1947) was the pen name of German author Rudolf Ditzen, whose books were international bestsellers on a par with those of his countrymen Thomas Mann and Hermann Hesse.

Review

‘A vital, painful examination of a devastated, morally bereft city.’

(The Listener)

‘Has something of the horror of Conrad, the madness of Dostoyersky, and the chilling menace of Capote.’ (The New York Times)

‘Records in powerful detail the reality of life for Germans living in a defeated and occupied country.’

(The Mail on Sunday)

‘Nightmare in Berlin represents a crucial moment in Fallada’s realisation that it is not the ruins, but human lives that count.’

(Norddeutsche Zeitung)

‘[Fallada’s] account of the agonized internal conflict of a writer, torn between the self-protective instinct to detach himself from the horror that surrounds him and the imperative to bear witness to it, has the appalled urgency of confession with little hope of absolution. Rawer and more unevenly wrought than Alone in Berlin, Nightmare in Berlin is the necessary precursor to that great work.’ (New Statesman)

‘A tale of survival in [post-war Berlin]’s ruins.’ (The Sunday Times)

‘This is a tense, atmospheric, almost dreamlike novel, shifting between moods of despair and hope. It is rich in internal stories ... bold, strident, ironic and often ambivalent fiction.’ (Eileen Battersby The Irish Times)

‘[Nightmare in Berlin] evokes the apathy and despair of postwar Germany with chilling resonance and the author’s trademark humanity.’

(Eileen Battersby The Irish Times)

‘A densely packed chronicle that is of both literary and historical value ... That this is furthermore a gripping and brilliantly written work goes without saying.’

(Berliner Zeitung)

‘A strikingly honest book, a piece of human history.’

(Frankfurter Neue Presse)

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribe Publications
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 192522838X
• ISBN 13: 9781925228380
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288