Jugend ohne Gott. Textausgabe mit Kommentar und Materialien: Reclam XL - Text und Kontext

by Ödön von Horváth

178 pages, Paperback

Published February 12, 2021

About the author

Ödön von Horváth was a German-writing, Austro-Hungarian-born, playwright and novelist. Important topics in Horváth's works were popular culture, politics and history. He especially tried to warn of the dawn of fascism and its dangers. Among Horváth's most enduringly popular works, Jugend ohne Gott describes the youth in Nazi Germany from a disgruntled teacher's point of view, who, himself at first an opportunist, is helpless against the racist and militaristic Nazi propaganda that his pupils are subjected to and that dehumanizes them and, at last, loses his job but gains his identity.

Having always lived in fear of being struck by lightning, in Paris Horváth was hit by a falling branch and killed during a thunderstorm on the Champs-Élysées, opposite the Théâtre Marigny.

His famous quote:

"If you ask me what is my native country, I answer: I was born in Fiume, grew up in Belgrade, Budapest, Pressburg [Bratislava], Vienna and Munich, and I have a Hungarian passport, but I have no fatherland. I am a very typical mix of old Austria-Hungary: at once Magyar, Croatian, German and Czech; my country is Hungary; my mother tongue is German."

Reviews

[joffiii · Rating 5 out of 5]

ich hab’s schon mal gelesen und damals fand ich’s eher so joa gut kann man lesen. aber diesmal hat’s mich irgendwie absolut mitgenommen, überwältigt und überfordert.

[Hannah Magerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW! I started Jugend Ohne Gott without reading the back cover, a summary or any review so I had no idea what to expect. Based on the title, I thought it would be some German, boring preach about religion and God. The novel was not entirely the contrary, however, it was not boring at all! It turned out to be an exciting crimenovel about a murder of a 14-year-old. To be honest, I did not think I would be into a crimenovel but I found myself on the edge of my seat, trying to put the pieces together myself. I had expected an entire different ending which worries me about my poor detective skills lol. Anyway, Jugend Ohne Gott had such a grasp on me that it is four-star read for me! Additionally, I liked how powerless and weak the main character is, however, in some fragments, I found him quite disturbing as well. This was a really good read and inspired me to read more crimestories!

[Malikaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Der Club 🤌

[Lin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich habe dieses Buch nur gelesen weil es eine Schul-Lektüre war. Am Anfang fand ich es nicht so spannend und interessant. Im laufe als ich mehr in die Geschichte rein kam habe ich angefangen es zu mögen. Der Mordfall hat mich richtig rein gezogen. Was mich nur immer verwirrt hatte waren die Namen der Schüler. Wenn ich mich noch richtig erinnere waren die Namen nur die anfangs Buchstaben deren Nachnamen. Ansonsten kann ich das Buch an jeden empfehlen. Nicht nur als Lektüre sondern einfach so zum lesen.

[Luana Buchegger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ich musste das Buch in der Schule lesen... Im privaten würde ich es nicht lesen auch nachdem ich die Geschichte nun kenne. Meiner Meinung nach ist die Geschichte am Anfang nicht spannend erst gegen das Ende wird es besser.

[Amélie Bracke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eigenlijk 3,5 sterren ☺️

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es ist schon spannend, aber halt auch in einer alten Sprache geschrieben.