Germany? Germany!: Satirical Writings: The Kurt Tucholsky Reader

by Kurt Tucholsky, Ralph Blumenthal, Harry Zohn (Translator)

Kurt Tucholsky is one of Weimar Germany's most celebrated literary figures. The poet, journalist, and satirist who was at the center of the tumultuous political and cultural world of 1920's Berlin still emerges as an astonishingly contemporary figure. But he was more than just an angry truth-teller; he was also one of the funniest satirical writers of his era, depicting everyday lives during the rise of modernity. The iconic translation of Harry Zohn, a literary figure from Vienna himself, presented Tucholsky to an American audience for the first time. This edition features a preface by Ralph Blumenthal, journalism professor and former reporter for The New York Times .

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 1, 2017

About the author

Kurt Tucholsky was a German-Jewish journalist, satirist and writer. He also wrote under the pseudonyms Kaspar Hauser, Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger, and Ignaz Wrobel. Born in Berlin-Moabit, he moved to Paris in 1924 and then to Sweden in 1930.

Tucholsky was one of the most important journalists of the Weimar Republic. As a politically engaged journalist and temporary co-editor of the weekly magazine Die Weltbühne he proved himself to be a social critic in the tradition of Heinrich Heine. He was simultaneously a satirist, an author of satirical political revues, a songwriter, and a poet. He saw himself as a left-wing democrat and pacifist and warned against anti-democratic tendencies—above all in politics, the military, and justice—and the threat of National Socialism. His fears were confirmed when the Nazis came to power in 1933: his books were listed on the Nazi's censorship as "Entartete Kunst" ("Degenerate Art") and burned, and he lost his German citizenship.

Reviews

[Toby Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zipped through this - Tucholsky is superbly adept at combining humour, insight, spite, a sense of the ridiculous, and a great felicity for the beauty of language. No surprise that he found life too much to bear; the baffles are evidently off, he sees the world too clearly, and there are few places to hide once sentimentality is denied you. I prefer to be sentimental, and live.

Sobering how the absurdities and perversities of the 1920s and 30s cling to us, in barely modified form. Tucholsky remains a prescient voice.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a timely introduction to Tucholsky, a German-Jewish satirist who worked from the First World War through to the rise of the Nazi party.

Tucholsky was a biting satirist and this collection of articles and essays spans most of his career, arranged thematically instead of chronologically (so we skip from 1922 to 1916 to 1932 to 1929, etc...).

Tucholsky was writing in and to his time, and as a satirist it is sometimes hard to find his authentic voice among the prejudices he is lampooning. It seems, however, that he had no interest in interrogating the appallingly reactionary view of women among his set (they are "incapable" of thought). Given the context of Weimar Berlin, maybe he even pushed these views.

In any case, if you want to see how a sharp-eyed critic could see the Nazis as both terrifying and ridiculous before the history had been made, and how this is really all the fault of the petty bourgeoisie, read this.