- Paperback: 177 pages
- Publisher: Northwestern University Press,U.S.; Northwestern University Press Ed edition (31 Dec 1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0810111373
- ISBN-13: 978-0810111370
- Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 13 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,455,263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The book is, by all accounts, a pretty accurate picture of the decadence rampant in Berlin during the Weimar era. Entitled "The story of a moralist", Jakob Fabian finds himself unemployed and moving ever closer to the edges of society. Frequenting seedy night clubs and bars, he tries to shun the vices that are constantly swirling about, eventually becoming romantically involved to a neighbor who, in the end tragically succumbs to the underground world that is Weimar Berlin. This leaves Jakob alone and on the very edge of losing all sense of self.
This is a wonderful book if you are interested in the sordid details of the bustly metropolis that was 1920s Berlin with its illegal night clubs, rampant prostitution, and the experimentation into 'alternative' lifestyles. This is great primary material for students of historical literature of the era.
MALOVELESS
This is a wonderful book if you are interested in the sordid details of the bustly metropolis that was 1920s Berlin with its illegal night clubs, rampant prostitution, and the experimentation into 'alternative' lifestyles. This is great primary material for students of historical literature of the era.
MALOVELESS
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I ordered this book as it is printed in English and as I am studying German I wanted to read an English edition of Fabian before I started on the original in German. I have now read both the English and the German and although my German is good I always like to read an English translation first and then I read the German book following every word as it is spoken from the CD's I purchased from Amazon Deutschland. It is my way of improving my German in the shortest possible time and it is only due to Amazon UK and Amazon Deutschland that I can so easily purchase both English and German books together with the German CD's that go with it. I will give the book 4 stars and Amazon 5 stars. Keep up the good work Amazon UK and Germany.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A Moralist Mirrors a Culture's Diseased Soul
1 Sep 1999
Format:Paperback
Erich Kastner, a writer in the German Enlightenment tradition perhaps best known as a German poet and author of children's books, wrote a scathing satirical novel about decadence during the Wiemar Republic. Kastner's target is the political, economic, cultural, and spiritual climate of the years preceeding the rise of the Third Reich. He caricatured the times in an effort to awaken his contemporaries to the elements that contributed to the gathering storm. Jacob Fabian, after whom the book is named, is portrayed as a either a passive figure who waits for a return of decency or one for whom there was no place in such a deteriorating society. His life adventures served as Kastner's diagnosis of the diseased soul of Berlin. Fabian's escapades mirrored the interior world of a city seemingly oblivious to what it was doing to itself. He lost his job, sweetheart, and best friend in a series of events which eerily highlights what was truly at stake in such a culture. The suicide of Fabian's friend as a hapless reaction to what was later discovered to be a cruel joke is a metaphor for the heartlessness of the era. I was struck by the books apparant parallels to our own time and found the author's message to be nearly prescient. In his preface to the 1950 German edition he wrote of the moralist's task to defend "lost causes" and to "fight on notwithstanding." Kastner's quixotic writing deserves a fresh reading by Americans given our diseased culture at the end of the twentieth century. While his mood and some of his caricatures will raise the ire of some, the overall impact of the book is ample reward for the tolerant reader.
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