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Ginster
When World War I breaks out, a young architecture student in Munich does everything in his power to avoid being enlisted into the German military in this perceptive, wickedly humorous novel by a prominent twentieth-century writer, journalist, and film critic.
Siegfried Kracauer’s Ginster is the great World War I novel you’ve never heard of. Here, the sheer horrors are kept offstage, as in Greek tragedy, and merely reported from time to time. The setting is the German home front. Its Chaplinesque antihero—Ginster—spends the war gumming up the German war machine as he maneuvers to stay out of its clutches and save his own skin.
Which he does; however, there is a deeper struggle going on between Ginster’s dreamy self-absorption and the pitiless organization of society, war or no war. Ginster has no wish to do anything. Alas, his reveries are forever being interrupted by the demands of an other-minded world.
All the scenes of Ginster are well to the rear of the military action, yet with Kracauer narrating, military language saturates all aspects of civilian life in the homeland. Ginster’s nearest and dearest are so gung-ho, he feels that he’s at the front when he visits them.
War, the author seems to say, is merely ordinary life seen from the back instead of the front. As a new European war darkens our horizon, one no more expected than was World War I, Kracauer’s novel feels timelier than ever.
Siegfried Kracauer’s Ginster is the great World War I novel you’ve never heard of. Here, the sheer horrors are kept offstage, as in Greek tragedy, and merely reported from time to time. The setting is the German home front. Its Chaplinesque antihero—Ginster—spends the war gumming up the German war machine as he maneuvers to stay out of its clutches and save his own skin.
Which he does; however, there is a deeper struggle going on between Ginster’s dreamy self-absorption and the pitiless organization of society, war or no war. Ginster has no wish to do anything. Alas, his reveries are forever being interrupted by the demands of an other-minded world.
All the scenes of Ginster are well to the rear of the military action, yet with Kracauer narrating, military language saturates all aspects of civilian life in the homeland. Ginster’s nearest and dearest are so gung-ho, he feels that he’s at the front when he visits them.
War, the author seems to say, is merely ordinary life seen from the back instead of the front. As a new European war darkens our horizon, one no more expected than was World War I, Kracauer’s novel feels timelier than ever.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1928
56 people are currently reading
709 people want to read
About the author
Siegfried Kracauer
97 books77 followersBorn to a Jewish family in Frankfurt am Main, Kracauer studied architecture from 1907 to 1913, eventually obtaining a doctorate in engineering in 1914 and working as an architect in Osnabrück, Munich, and Berlin until 1920.
Near the end of the First World War, he befriended the young Theodor W. Adorno, to whom he became an early philosophical mentor.
From 1922 to 1933 he worked as the leading film and literature editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung (a leading Frankfurt newspaper) as its correspondent in Berlin, where he worked alongside Walter Benjamin and Ernst Bloch, among others. Between 1923 and 1925, he wrote an essay entitled Der Detektiv-Roman (The Detective Novel), in which he concerned himself with phenomena from everyday life in modern society.
Kracauer continued this trend over the next few years, building up theoretical methods of analyzing circuses, photography, films, advertising, tourism, city layout, and dance, which he published in 1927 with the work Ornament der Masse (published in English as The Mass Ornament).
In 1930, Kracauer published Die Angestellten (The Salaried Masses), a critical look at the lifestyle and culture of the new class of white-collar employees. Spiritually homeless, and divorced from custom and tradition, these employees sought refuge in the new "distraction industries" of entertainment. Observers note that many of these lower-middle class employees were quick to adopt Nazism, three years later.
Kracauer became increasingly critical of capitalism (having read the works of Karl Marx) and eventually broke away from the Frankfurter Zeitung. About this same time (1930), he married Lili Ehrenreich. He was also very critical of Stalinism and the "terrorist totalitarianism" of the Soviet government.
With the rise of the Nazis in Germany in 1933, Kracauer migrated to Paris, and then in 1941 emigrated to the United States.
From 1941 to 1943 he worked in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, supported by Guggenheim and Rockefeller scholarships for his work in German film. Eventually, he published From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film (1947), which traces the birth of Nazism from the cinema of the Weimar Republic as well as helping lay the foundation of modern film criticism.
In 1960, he released Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality, which argued that realism is the most important function of cinema.
In the last years of his life Kracauer worked as a sociologist for different institutes, amongst them in New York as a director of research for applied social sciences at Columbia University. He died there, in 1966, from the consequences of pneumonia.
His last book is the posthumously published History, the Last Things Before the Last.
Near the end of the First World War, he befriended the young Theodor W. Adorno, to whom he became an early philosophical mentor.
From 1922 to 1933 he worked as the leading film and literature editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung (a leading Frankfurt newspaper) as its correspondent in Berlin, where he worked alongside Walter Benjamin and Ernst Bloch, among others. Between 1923 and 1925, he wrote an essay entitled Der Detektiv-Roman (The Detective Novel), in which he concerned himself with phenomena from everyday life in modern society.
Kracauer continued this trend over the next few years, building up theoretical methods of analyzing circuses, photography, films, advertising, tourism, city layout, and dance, which he published in 1927 with the work Ornament der Masse (published in English as The Mass Ornament).
In 1930, Kracauer published Die Angestellten (The Salaried Masses), a critical look at the lifestyle and culture of the new class of white-collar employees. Spiritually homeless, and divorced from custom and tradition, these employees sought refuge in the new "distraction industries" of entertainment. Observers note that many of these lower-middle class employees were quick to adopt Nazism, three years later.
Kracauer became increasingly critical of capitalism (having read the works of Karl Marx) and eventually broke away from the Frankfurter Zeitung. About this same time (1930), he married Lili Ehrenreich. He was also very critical of Stalinism and the "terrorist totalitarianism" of the Soviet government.
With the rise of the Nazis in Germany in 1933, Kracauer migrated to Paris, and then in 1941 emigrated to the United States.
From 1941 to 1943 he worked in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, supported by Guggenheim and Rockefeller scholarships for his work in German film. Eventually, he published From Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film (1947), which traces the birth of Nazism from the cinema of the Weimar Republic as well as helping lay the foundation of modern film criticism.
In 1960, he released Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality, which argued that realism is the most important function of cinema.
In the last years of his life Kracauer worked as a sociologist for different institutes, amongst them in New York as a director of research for applied social sciences at Columbia University. He died there, in 1966, from the consequences of pneumonia.
His last book is the posthumously published History, the Last Things Before the Last.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 24, 2024
Germany in the late 1920s was hit by a flurry of anti-war books, most the kind we’d recognise now: sleep-deprived, homesick men in dug-outs waiting to die; bloody scenes of messy skirmishes with the “enemy.” Siegfried Kracauer’s semi-autobiographical novel marks a radical departure from this script. Instead, he gives us hapless, budding architect Ginster who exhaustively documents his roundabout attempts to dodge the draft and offers up a biting commentary on Germany and his fellow Germans at war.
His friend, critic Walter Benjamin once labelled Kracauer “a loner” and “a malcontent,” a description that’s a perfect fit for Ginster. Kracauer himself considered his creation an intellectual version of soldier Švejk, while writer Joseph Roth compared Ginster and his wartime experiences to Charlie Chaplin let loose in a department store. A reasonable comparison given Kracauer’s inventive blend of influences here: from slapstick comedy, art and satirical cinema to the Dadaism of Ballet Mechanique. References that might be less immediate now but were likely very familiar to his contemporary literary and artistic circle: Ginster’s depiction of his landlady suggests a character from a Cubist portrait come to life; his childhood friend Otto trains as a soldier, dons a uniform and is suddenly transformed from man to automaton - like the card-players in Fernand Léger’s famous painting.
Architecture is also key here, the alienated Ginster has a tendency to interpret his world through geometry or other aspects of his architectural training, transfixed by the grandiose or overly rigid forms of the buildings around him which seem to embody the repressive national mood. His fellow Germans also appear to be solidifying, no longer a mass of individuals but a xenophobic, patriotic collective. Somehow immune to groupthink, Ginster’s personal reaction combines bemusement with a creeping anxiety that this war might get him killed. Like many outsider figures, Ginster’s a keen observer of his surroundings, the problem is that what he observes makes no sense to him, what’s happening is just absurd.
There’s no real plot here. The narrative often feels as adrift as Ginster himself - he spends half his time contemplating some form of self-erasure. Ginster stumbles through the early war years, first delaying his service for medical reasons then by taking on architectural projects classified as essential war work. Despite his desperate attempts to maintain an ironic distance from wider society, Ginster can’t resist an opportunity to register his own, oblique brand of protest. As German losses mount, Ginster responds to a call for a design for a cemetery for the war dead with one that deliberately mocks the militarism that fuels war – unfortunately what he intends as satire is interpreted rather differently by his audience.
This is very much a novel focused on men and masculinity, women are peripheral at best, and I wasn’t entirely convinced by Kracauer’s attempt at an upbeat ending. There were stretches too that were so dense and demanding I had to take breaks in my reading. But it has a muted ferocity that I found extremely compelling. It could also be arresting and profoundly provocative, sometimes frenetic and incredibly funny, sometimes sardonic, bleak and brooding. It positively overflows with memorable lines and striking imagery – Ginster’s use of dance as a metaphor for the social conformity that leads directly to battlefield carnage is just brilliant. Translated by Carl Skoggard.
Thanks to Edelweiss and publisher NYRB classics for an ARC
His friend, critic Walter Benjamin once labelled Kracauer “a loner” and “a malcontent,” a description that’s a perfect fit for Ginster. Kracauer himself considered his creation an intellectual version of soldier Švejk, while writer Joseph Roth compared Ginster and his wartime experiences to Charlie Chaplin let loose in a department store. A reasonable comparison given Kracauer’s inventive blend of influences here: from slapstick comedy, art and satirical cinema to the Dadaism of Ballet Mechanique. References that might be less immediate now but were likely very familiar to his contemporary literary and artistic circle: Ginster’s depiction of his landlady suggests a character from a Cubist portrait come to life; his childhood friend Otto trains as a soldier, dons a uniform and is suddenly transformed from man to automaton - like the card-players in Fernand Léger’s famous painting.
Architecture is also key here, the alienated Ginster has a tendency to interpret his world through geometry or other aspects of his architectural training, transfixed by the grandiose or overly rigid forms of the buildings around him which seem to embody the repressive national mood. His fellow Germans also appear to be solidifying, no longer a mass of individuals but a xenophobic, patriotic collective. Somehow immune to groupthink, Ginster’s personal reaction combines bemusement with a creeping anxiety that this war might get him killed. Like many outsider figures, Ginster’s a keen observer of his surroundings, the problem is that what he observes makes no sense to him, what’s happening is just absurd.
There’s no real plot here. The narrative often feels as adrift as Ginster himself - he spends half his time contemplating some form of self-erasure. Ginster stumbles through the early war years, first delaying his service for medical reasons then by taking on architectural projects classified as essential war work. Despite his desperate attempts to maintain an ironic distance from wider society, Ginster can’t resist an opportunity to register his own, oblique brand of protest. As German losses mount, Ginster responds to a call for a design for a cemetery for the war dead with one that deliberately mocks the militarism that fuels war – unfortunately what he intends as satire is interpreted rather differently by his audience.
This is very much a novel focused on men and masculinity, women are peripheral at best, and I wasn’t entirely convinced by Kracauer’s attempt at an upbeat ending. There were stretches too that were so dense and demanding I had to take breaks in my reading. But it has a muted ferocity that I found extremely compelling. It could also be arresting and profoundly provocative, sometimes frenetic and incredibly funny, sometimes sardonic, bleak and brooding. It positively overflows with memorable lines and striking imagery – Ginster’s use of dance as a metaphor for the social conformity that leads directly to battlefield carnage is just brilliant. Translated by Carl Skoggard.
Thanks to Edelweiss and publisher NYRB classics for an ARC
June 28, 2015
Siegfried Kracauer was the eternal second. Because of that he ist often times overlooked and this great novel is nearly forgotten.
Being the head feulletonist of the famed Frankfurter Zeitung in the 20's, he was one of the central figures in the literature scene of the Weimar Republic. However, he never reached the universal appeal and lasting fame of Weltbühne stars like Kurt Tucholstky, Siegfried Jacobsohn or Alfred Kerr. As one of the founders of movie sociology, he is of certain importance but he never reached the fame of his fellow Frankfurters such als Walther Benjamin or Theodor W. Adorno. Ginster certainly was successfull but if never reached the hype of similar works such as Musil's The Man Without Qualities of Kästerner's Fabian. A shame because it plays in a similar league.
Ginster is an architecture student in Munich. When World War I starts, he does everything to not get enlisted. That's about the plot; just like The Man Without Qualities it doesn't have much of a plot. Moreover it is a whitty portrait of the war period, full of funny yet thoughtful episodes with a pitch black sense of humour, comparable to Elias Cannetti.
Being the head feulletonist of the famed Frankfurter Zeitung in the 20's, he was one of the central figures in the literature scene of the Weimar Republic. However, he never reached the universal appeal and lasting fame of Weltbühne stars like Kurt Tucholstky, Siegfried Jacobsohn or Alfred Kerr. As one of the founders of movie sociology, he is of certain importance but he never reached the fame of his fellow Frankfurters such als Walther Benjamin or Theodor W. Adorno. Ginster certainly was successfull but if never reached the hype of similar works such as Musil's The Man Without Qualities of Kästerner's Fabian. A shame because it plays in a similar league.
Ginster is an architecture student in Munich. When World War I starts, he does everything to not get enlisted. That's about the plot; just like The Man Without Qualities it doesn't have much of a plot. Moreover it is a whitty portrait of the war period, full of funny yet thoughtful episodes with a pitch black sense of humour, comparable to Elias Cannetti.
February 11, 2018
Schnörkellos und kühl -fast wie unbeteiligt- erzählt Kracauer Ginsters Lebensweg während der Zeit des 1. Weltkrieges. Ein Anti-Kriegsroman, in dem der Krieg seinen Schrecken nur aus der Ferne vom Hörensagen verbreitet.
February 5, 2022
Interessant einen Roman von einem Autor zu lesen, von dem man bisher nur Sachtexte gelesen hatte. Der Erzählstil fiel mir bis zuletzt ein bisschen schwer und ich habe wahrscheinlich oft unkonzentriert gelesen. Nichtsdestotrotz ein Buch, das ich gerne gelesen habe, und das wahrscheinlich noch mehr hergegeben hätte, wenn ich mehr Geschichtswissen um den ersten Weltkrieg und die Novemberrevolution hätt.
May 14, 2025
Wirklich schönes Buch von Kracauer, packte mich stellenweise sehr, da es sich auch ein wenig auf die aktuelle Zeit beziehen lässt. Ein wenig lang, aber lässt ein schönes Gefühl am Ende da. Alles aus der Sicht eines Mannes, einschränkend zu sagen.
December 11, 2025
The backcover blurb puts it well that this is "a war novel about not going to war" -- the book is essentially just Ginster avoiding being inducted into service and observing the homefront from a strange liminal (ephemeral, as Johannes von Moltke puts it) viewpoint that's neither part of the collective nor a total outsider.
It's admittedly a bit of a slog -- very long paragraphs (even after the translator apparently broke many of them up) and very little in the way of a substantive plot. If you approach it in a more academic way, though, there's a lot to be said for it -- WWI and Weimar Germany have always been interests of mine, and this book is a pretty incredible forgotten artifact from that intersection. Published 2 months prior to All Quiet on the Western Front by Kracauer, a prominent journalist and arts critic, Ginster was met with high praise from a lot of the big German-language intellects of the time -- Thomas Mann, Theodor Adorno, Joseph Roth, Walter Benjamin, and Ernst Bloch, to name a few.
Carl Skoggard (the translator) and von Moltke (writer of the afterword) both strongly emphasize the role of Ginster as a sort of stand-in for Kracauer -- Skoggard explicitly refers to the pair as Kracauer-Ginster, to this point. Kracauer seems to have been playing with the authorship and autobiographical form with Ginster, who he sort of dips in and out of throughout. Like Ginster, Kracauer was an assimilated Jew from Frankfurt with formal training in architecture who avoided frontline service in the War (der Krieg), but of course Kracauer does like to blur the lines a little and avoid an easy parallel.
The book is very much modernist and was deeply inspired by fairly avant-garde Weimar art and film (but also Chaplin) -- I'm not familiar with the film references at all (von Moltke has a lot more to say about that in the afterword), but I can say from a bit more of a lay perspective that a lot of the portraits of people and place on the homefront feel like feverish George Grosz or Otto Dix pieces. A few examples:
"They've forced him into a perfect rectangle, thought Ginster, an automaton." (43)
"They produced columns of figures and cross sections which he scanned conscientiously, his soulful seal-eyes peering over a glue brush of a mustache." (102)
"He was long and expressionless, like a mark of punctuation that sets off nothing." (163)
". . . music and noise were hacking the human mass to pieces and leaving behind limbs and body parts that really should have been cleared away. Eyes abandoned faces, open mouths no longer closed again, and tresses flew up over red lipstick laughter."
Writing these weird fusions between objects and people and words and with hyperfixations on geometry are mainstays of Kracauer's prose. Not often laugh-out-loud funny, but more so wry and ironic humor.
Ginster is extremely hard to pin down -- he's opposed to the war probably more so out of what would be deemed cowardice more so than being a principled conscientious objector, but he's also fairly indecisively on a spectrum between the two. Given his sort of vegetative (literally -- Ginster being the German word for "gorse") and ephemeral existence, it's hard to really think that Ginster so values his life -- he even seems somewhat perplexed by his fear and desire to live given that he has no clear idea who he is and what he wants to be and what his principles are. He's certainly smart enough to realize from the beginning how profoundly stupid the war is -- the August fever never takes him, though he sometimes wishes it did.
I don't know that I would recommend this to anyone beyond those who are inherently deeply interested in WWI, Weimar art, and/or German modernism, but it's very much worth reading in supplement to better known works like All Quiet. As usual, a really cool book for NYRB to choose.
It's admittedly a bit of a slog -- very long paragraphs (even after the translator apparently broke many of them up) and very little in the way of a substantive plot. If you approach it in a more academic way, though, there's a lot to be said for it -- WWI and Weimar Germany have always been interests of mine, and this book is a pretty incredible forgotten artifact from that intersection. Published 2 months prior to All Quiet on the Western Front by Kracauer, a prominent journalist and arts critic, Ginster was met with high praise from a lot of the big German-language intellects of the time -- Thomas Mann, Theodor Adorno, Joseph Roth, Walter Benjamin, and Ernst Bloch, to name a few.
Carl Skoggard (the translator) and von Moltke (writer of the afterword) both strongly emphasize the role of Ginster as a sort of stand-in for Kracauer -- Skoggard explicitly refers to the pair as Kracauer-Ginster, to this point. Kracauer seems to have been playing with the authorship and autobiographical form with Ginster, who he sort of dips in and out of throughout. Like Ginster, Kracauer was an assimilated Jew from Frankfurt with formal training in architecture who avoided frontline service in the War (der Krieg), but of course Kracauer does like to blur the lines a little and avoid an easy parallel.
The book is very much modernist and was deeply inspired by fairly avant-garde Weimar art and film (but also Chaplin) -- I'm not familiar with the film references at all (von Moltke has a lot more to say about that in the afterword), but I can say from a bit more of a lay perspective that a lot of the portraits of people and place on the homefront feel like feverish George Grosz or Otto Dix pieces. A few examples:
"They've forced him into a perfect rectangle, thought Ginster, an automaton." (43)
"They produced columns of figures and cross sections which he scanned conscientiously, his soulful seal-eyes peering over a glue brush of a mustache." (102)
"He was long and expressionless, like a mark of punctuation that sets off nothing." (163)
". . . music and noise were hacking the human mass to pieces and leaving behind limbs and body parts that really should have been cleared away. Eyes abandoned faces, open mouths no longer closed again, and tresses flew up over red lipstick laughter."
Writing these weird fusions between objects and people and words and with hyperfixations on geometry are mainstays of Kracauer's prose. Not often laugh-out-loud funny, but more so wry and ironic humor.
Ginster is extremely hard to pin down -- he's opposed to the war probably more so out of what would be deemed cowardice more so than being a principled conscientious objector, but he's also fairly indecisively on a spectrum between the two. Given his sort of vegetative (literally -- Ginster being the German word for "gorse") and ephemeral existence, it's hard to really think that Ginster so values his life -- he even seems somewhat perplexed by his fear and desire to live given that he has no clear idea who he is and what he wants to be and what his principles are. He's certainly smart enough to realize from the beginning how profoundly stupid the war is -- the August fever never takes him, though he sometimes wishes it did.
I don't know that I would recommend this to anyone beyond those who are inherently deeply interested in WWI, Weimar art, and/or German modernism, but it's very much worth reading in supplement to better known works like All Quiet. As usual, a really cool book for NYRB to choose.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 18, 2019
Publicada en 1928, “Ginster” se articula dentro de una tendencia literaria característica del período de la República de Weimar: la novela de guerra. Durante la década de 1920, proliferaron relatos de la experiencia de la Primera Guerra Mundial contados por personas que habían servido en el frente.
De esta manera, “Ginster” recrea un episodio histórico que coincide con la llamada Gran Guerra. Sin embargo, si bien esta obra podría configurarse como una novela bélica, es interesante notar que la guerra nunca aparece como escenario de acción. Su personaje principal, Ginster, es un individuo amorfo, amoral, débil y renuente a la acción que, a lo largo de toda la novela y con la excepción del capítulo final, no hace nada (ya su nombre se refiere a un tipo de planta). Es, en otras palabras, un “outsider”, un joven que no encuentra su lugar en el mundo y al cual las cosas “le suceden”. La configuración de un sujeto pequeño y débil, en contraposición al héroe trágico y prepotente, se vincula con la posibilidad de comprender la guerra como un acontecimiento social que debe ser cuestionado.
Dejo una cita que me parece crucial en este sentido:
“Era preciso - Ginster volvía sobre ello una y otra vez - indagar las razones que habían conducido a la guerra, atravesando todas las mentiras y todos los sentimientos estúpidos. Ginster odiaba los sentimientos, el patriotismo, la gloria, las banderas; bloqueaban la perspectiva, y los hombres morían por nada”.
De esta manera, “Ginster” recrea un episodio histórico que coincide con la llamada Gran Guerra. Sin embargo, si bien esta obra podría configurarse como una novela bélica, es interesante notar que la guerra nunca aparece como escenario de acción. Su personaje principal, Ginster, es un individuo amorfo, amoral, débil y renuente a la acción que, a lo largo de toda la novela y con la excepción del capítulo final, no hace nada (ya su nombre se refiere a un tipo de planta). Es, en otras palabras, un “outsider”, un joven que no encuentra su lugar en el mundo y al cual las cosas “le suceden”. La configuración de un sujeto pequeño y débil, en contraposición al héroe trágico y prepotente, se vincula con la posibilidad de comprender la guerra como un acontecimiento social que debe ser cuestionado.
Dejo una cita que me parece crucial en este sentido:
“Era preciso - Ginster volvía sobre ello una y otra vez - indagar las razones que habían conducido a la guerra, atravesando todas las mentiras y todos los sentimientos estúpidos. Ginster odiaba los sentimientos, el patriotismo, la gloria, las banderas; bloqueaban la perspectiva, y los hombres morían por nada”.
November 17, 2025
Ginster is a marvelous book. Ginster is a character whose life is explored during the years of WWI. The book is about war and its ridiculous characters and events. The way in which the common folk get drawn up up to its support without understanding anything is clearly brought out. There’s a lot of sardonic humor here, a lot of poking fun, and the use of strange metaphors to describe events and objects. Ginster somehow avoids being drafted, working as an architect for Valentin, he designs military cemeteries and workers residences. He avoids the draft only to finally get conscripted. He questions and observes almost everything and turns it upside down. Some of the language in each of the sentences seems a little bit structured and awkward or even backwards yet the book is compelling. Moreover, it would take a good number of re- readings to understand its many subtleties. Critics point to Ginster as a Chaplin- like Tramp and he does indeed seem a shnook who seems to have difficulties understanding simple things. In his grappling with objectives and military orders he just points out their absurdities.
November 25, 2025
Een van de vele anti-oorlogsboeken, die in Duitsland na WWI verschenen. Dit boek verschilt van de andere door dat alles zich afspeelt buiten het echte oorlogsterrein. Ginster (zijn bijnaam) is een pas afgestudeerde architect, die zich net als vele anderen aanmeldt voor het leger, maar op onduidelijke gronden wordt afgewezen. Hij gaat terug wonen bij zijn moeder en vindt met moeite werk. Regelmatig dreigt hij weer opgeroepen te worden, maar met hulp van zijn werkgever en anderen weet hij daar steeds aan te ontkomen. Tot in het derde oorlogsjaar, dan moet hij in opleiding bij de artillerie. Ook daar ontspringt hij de dans en wordt dan naar Osnabruck gestuurd, waar hij het eind van de oorlog kan afwachten. Klinkt allemaal niet erg spannend, maar het gaat om wat de schrijver tussendoor over de oorlog, de krijgsmacht en de politici te zeggen heeft. Vaak met humor, maar de kritiek is niet mals.
Ginster zelf blijft een wat ongrijpbare figuur; in de epiloog, 5 jaar na de oorlog, word je nog steeds niet veel wijzer. Toch een interessant boek, vooral ook om het inkijkje dat het geeft in het leven van de Duitse bourgeoisie in het begin van de 20ste eeuw.
Ginster zelf blijft een wat ongrijpbare figuur; in de epiloog, 5 jaar na de oorlog, word je nog steeds niet veel wijzer. Toch een interessant boek, vooral ook om het inkijkje dat het geeft in het leven van de Duitse bourgeoisie in het begin van de 20ste eeuw.
November 27, 2025
This is the NYRB Classics pick for Nov. 2025.
Written in German in 1928, but set during WWI, this was a challenge to translate into English. The protagonist, Ginster, would probably be considered on the spectrum today. He distances himself from other people and overthinks social interactions as he tries to come to terms with his desire not to get sent to the Front.
An architect, he is highly trained but works for those with lesser qualifications and allows them to take credit for his work. He sees the world in a cubist disjointed manner.
The NYRB edition is well-done with useful notes, particularly on informal and formal German pronouns in the 1920s. An afterword explains the author's connection with modernism and film.
Written in German in 1928, but set during WWI, this was a challenge to translate into English. The protagonist, Ginster, would probably be considered on the spectrum today. He distances himself from other people and overthinks social interactions as he tries to come to terms with his desire not to get sent to the Front.
An architect, he is highly trained but works for those with lesser qualifications and allows them to take credit for his work. He sees the world in a cubist disjointed manner.
The NYRB edition is well-done with useful notes, particularly on informal and formal German pronouns in the 1920s. An afterword explains the author's connection with modernism and film.
December 3, 2025
Fascinating novel from a critical and historical standpoint. Narratively... written by a sociologist (derogatory). Kracauer's proximity to and patronage of Frankfurt school members is evident, and as someone who's ideological shrine has a big poster of Benjamin taped up on the back wall, I found much enjoyment in Ginster's musings. A slightly less bombastic but more philosophically shored cousin to Catch-22 would be the elevator pitch, as my car companion frantically slams on the next floor's button. I'd comment further on my affinity for the narrative but for fear of a wayward jingo occupying and annexing my time. Looks like you'll just have to read it for yourself, Rambo!
November 29, 2025
2.5 rounded up. translated modernist literature is not the easiest to read, but definitely a lot of relevant commentary to how we distance ourselves from war.
“‘The daily bulletins, what beautiful style they have,’ Ginster commented. He wished to insert something to signal his approval. In situations like this he was expected to contribute.”
“‘The daily bulletins, what beautiful style they have,’ Ginster commented. He wished to insert something to signal his approval. In situations like this he was expected to contribute.”
June 27, 2019
3.5. Me resultó bastante denso. Igualmente reconozco su valor literario.
August 3, 2025
"Sie werden mich nicht verstehen, aber am liebsten zerrieselte ich."
November 30, 2025
A satire that isn't funny. An anti-war novel that fails -- I would have preferred being shelled by artillery than continuing this book.
December 5, 2025
Best NYRB Classics Club book so far that I've read
December 27, 2025
Fascinating language play in a war novel minus the actual war. Illuminating afterwords, too.
January 4, 2026
No comment.
January 6, 2015
Bin ganz beginstert von Kracauers Metaphernwitz, in dem er die Absurdität des Krieges und der Gesellschaft einfängt! Es ist die Sicht des Aussenseiters, der mit Staunen das Treiben der Menschheit beobachtet. Daher die Tiefe des Witzes, der versteckte Wahrheiten ans Licht befördert. Witzige Bücher (wie z.B. von David Sedaris oder Benjamin von Stuckrad-Barre, die ich hier, wo es um wirkliche Literatur geht, mich zu nennen fast schäme) ermüden mich schnell! Doch finden wir bei Kracauer den Witz im Sinne des feinen Esprit, der durch die genaue Beobachtung mittels der ungewöhnlichen Metapher den Irrsinn der sogenannten Normalität aufzeigt!
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