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German novel recommendations?

  Tags: Literature | Book | German
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading Post Reply
9 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
sillygoose1
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 Message 1 of 9
27 December 2013 at 4:40am | IP Logged 
I've been trying to find some really thought provoking German authors from the past 20-30 years, but I've been coming up short.

Could anyone recommend any German books similar to Jean Paul Sartre, David Foster Wallace, Roberto Bolano, Michel Houellebecq, Thomas Pynchon, Haruki Murakami etc.

Basically any good fiction with a philosophical/sociological backdrop?

Edited by sillygoose1 on 27 December 2013 at 4:42am

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Luso
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 Message 2 of 9
27 December 2013 at 5:52am | IP Logged 
The name Bernhard Schlink springs to mind. Maybe it does not correspond to your concept of "thought provoking", but you could check it out.

Another simple way to go about this is to check the latest Nobel Prize winners writing in German. Go back in time while you feel comfortable.
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flabbergasted
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 Message 3 of 9
29 December 2013 at 2:11pm | IP Logged 
Uwe Johnson, "Jahrestage"
Peter Weiss, "Die Ästhetik des Widerstands"
Hermann Broch, "Der Tod des Vergil"
Reinhard Jirgl - anything
Arno Schmidt - anything
Wolfgang Koeppen, "Tauben im Gras", "Das Treibhaus","Der Tod in Rom"
Tobias Meissner, "Starfish Rules"
Thomas Bernhard - anything
Günter Grass, "Die Blechtrommel", "Hundejahre"
Ingeborg Bachmann, "Malina"
Elias Canetti, "Die Blendung"
Adolf Muschg, "Der Rote Ritter. Eine Geschichte von Parzival"
Gerhard Roth, "Die Archive des Schweigens"
Christa Wolf, "Kassandra"
Irmtraud Morgner, "Leben und Abenteuer der Trobadora Beatriz nach Zeugnissen ihrer
Spielfrau Laura"
Clemens J. Setz, "Die Frequenzen", "Indigo"
Dieter Forte, "Tetralogie der Erinnerung"
Dietmar Dath, "Für immer in Honig"
W.G. Sebald - anything
Alfred Döblin, " Berge Meere und Giganten"
Jan Brandt, "Gegen die Welt"
Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, "Rom, Blicke"


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montmorency
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 Message 4 of 9
30 December 2013 at 2:57am | IP Logged 
Slightly older, but: Friedrich Dürrenmatt: "Der Richter und Sein Henker"
"Der Verdacht".

Also, later novels, (and plays), but I am not familiar with those.


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druckfehler
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Germany
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 Message 5 of 9
30 December 2013 at 1:32pm | IP Logged 
Hermann Hesse - Das Glasperlenspiel
(probably also Steppenwolf - which I didn't enjoy;
and some others - which I haven't yet read)

Also thought of

Bertolt Brecht - Geschichten vom Herrn Keuner
(smart, humorous parables)

Friedrich Dürrenmatt - Die Physiker
(actually a comic play about the ethics of science. definitely worth reading, though not really what you were asking for, I think)
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Mareike
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 Message 6 of 9
30 December 2013 at 3:23pm | IP Logged 
Friedrich Dürrenmatt - Der Besuch der alten Dame
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A boldog eb
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 Message 7 of 9
01 January 2014 at 3:28pm | IP Logged 
What about the works of Joseph Roth?
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BAnna
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 Message 8 of 9
01 January 2014 at 4:04pm | IP Logged 
This site might be useful to you. Besides reviews, it also contains a nice list of German-language publishers for further exploration. And the list of German language literature links is well worth checking out as well.
New Books in German


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