The critical reception of Alfred Döblin's major novels
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The critical reception of Alfred Döblin's major novels
（Studies in German literature, linguistics, and culture / edited by James Hardin, . Literary criticism in perspective）
Camden House, 2003
Available at 2 libraries
Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [223]-236) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The first thorough study in English of the reception of Doeblin's novels, written by one of the foremost Doeblin scholars.
Alfred Doeblin (1878-1957) is one of the major German writers of the twentieth century. His experimental, ever-changing, avant-garde style kept both readers and critics off guard, and although he won the acclaim of critics and hada clear impact on German writers after the Second World War (Gunter Grass called him "my teacher"), he is still largely unknown to the reading public, and under-researched by literary scholars. He was a prolific writer, with thirteen novels alongside a great many other shorter fiction works and non-fiction writings to his credit, and yet, paradoxically, he is known to a larger public as the author of only one book, the 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz, which sold more copies in the first weeks of publication than all his previous novels combined. Alexanderplatz is known for its depiction of the criminal underground of Berlin and a montage and stream-of-consciousness technique comparable to James Joyce's Ulysses; it became one of the best-known big-city novels of the century and has remained Doeblin's one enduring popular success. Doeblin was forced into exile in 1933, and the works he wrote in exile were neglected by critics for decades. Now epic works like Amazonas, November 1918, and Hamlet, Oder die lange Nacht nimmt ein Ende are finding a fairer critical evaluation. Wulf Koepke tackles the paradox of Doeblin the leading but neglected avant-gardist by analysis of contemporary and later criticism, both journalistic and academic, always taking into account the historical context in which it appeared.
Wulf Koepke is Professor Emeritus at Texas A&M University.
Table of Contents
Preface
Major Novels by Alfred Doeblin
Introduction
Contemporary Reviews before 1933
Contemporary Reviews after 1933: Doeblin in Exile
Doeblin Scholarship: The First Approaches
Die drei Sprunge des Wang-lun
Wadzeks Kampf mit der Dampfturbine
Wallenstein
Berge Meere und Giganten
Manas
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Babylonische Wandrung
Pardon wird nicht gegeben
Amazonas
November 1918
Hamlet oder Die lange Nacht nimmt ein Ende
Doeblin's Impact on Other Writers
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
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