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Parallel Text: German Short Stories: Deutsche Kurzgeschichten
Much maligned in pre-war Germany, the short story enjoyed a creative rebirth in 1945. Initially imported by the Allies, the form also matched perfectly the prevailing mood of irony, objectivity and mistrust of the didactic. With the original German text running alongside English translations, this collection features stories from eight outstanding post-war authors including Heinrich Boll, Ilse Aichinger and Reinhard Lettau which students will find both educational and engrossing. Boll's opening story 'Pale Anna' follows a soldier returning home, his situation comparable to that of the writer in the first months of peace: he knows no-one and has few words not linked to painful memories. This poignant narrative is followed by a variety of tales representing the diversity of the time and including satires, explorations of private obsessions and experiments in form and language.
171 pages, Paperback
First published June 30, 1965
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 29, 2018
Useful for practice but I did not enjoy the stories at all.
May 18, 2025
Useful for practising my German, but the stories themselves were dull!
October 9, 2019
I’m trying to improve my German, so I chose this collection of short stories as an exercise. As such, I appreciate the range of different styles, and the structure that runs from the simpler, easier to translate stories, to more stylistically experimental and difficult stories language-wise. However, I was surprised how affecting I found much of the collection, given I haven’t particularly enjoyed this series of parallel text anthologies from a literary standpoint before.
As a collection, all stories are from the fairly immediate post-war period. The short stories (Die Blasse Anna, Die Hostie, Im Trocadero) that deal with that experience of upheaval were extremely moving and a new perspective for me. The immediate post-war literature in British and US is usually marked with a sense of optimism, in which grief and the experience of material hardship might be alluded to, but are usually depicted as sacrifices in a rightful struggle, the cost of victory against evil. Germans, obviously, did not have that solace and while these three stories are not entirely without hope, they describe disillusionment, recognition of hypocrisy, their narrators stumbling out into a shabby new world.
As for the other short stories in the collection, Spiegelgeschichte dealt with a more universal theme for women (sadly, not only an historical one), and was beautiful although deeply, deeply sad. I disliked the remaining stories, especially the two humorous ones, from both a narrative and stylistic viewpoint, but they were probably a good exercise of my German skills.
As a collection, all stories are from the fairly immediate post-war period. The short stories (Die Blasse Anna, Die Hostie, Im Trocadero) that deal with that experience of upheaval were extremely moving and a new perspective for me. The immediate post-war literature in British and US is usually marked with a sense of optimism, in which grief and the experience of material hardship might be alluded to, but are usually depicted as sacrifices in a rightful struggle, the cost of victory against evil. Germans, obviously, did not have that solace and while these three stories are not entirely without hope, they describe disillusionment, recognition of hypocrisy, their narrators stumbling out into a shabby new world.
As for the other short stories in the collection, Spiegelgeschichte dealt with a more universal theme for women (sadly, not only an historical one), and was beautiful although deeply, deeply sad. I disliked the remaining stories, especially the two humorous ones, from both a narrative and stylistic viewpoint, but they were probably a good exercise of my German skills.
January 7, 2015
Having started to learn German just over two years ago and wanting to read something simple in the language, when I saw this little gem I couldn't pass it up. For those who want to try and dig into a first German book, this is perfect.
From a linguistic standpoint, the English translation provided is non literary and therefore ideal for those who are reading the German but find themselves lost for an exact word or simply need clarification of a slightly more challenging grammatical structure (of which there are many of course, being Deutsch). The annotations at the back also provide explanations of grammar points and context for certain words and phrases. Awesome!
The stories themselves are well chosen, in my opinion. From the lovely and rather upsetting "Spiegelgeschichte" to more amusing stories such as "Schischyphusch" or "Antigone und der Gartenzwerg", the stories are certainly worth a read whether you're trying to learn German or not.
From a linguistic standpoint, the English translation provided is non literary and therefore ideal for those who are reading the German but find themselves lost for an exact word or simply need clarification of a slightly more challenging grammatical structure (of which there are many of course, being Deutsch). The annotations at the back also provide explanations of grammar points and context for certain words and phrases. Awesome!
The stories themselves are well chosen, in my opinion. From the lovely and rather upsetting "Spiegelgeschichte" to more amusing stories such as "Schischyphusch" or "Antigone und der Gartenzwerg", the stories are certainly worth a read whether you're trying to learn German or not.
October 7, 2022
Comparing German literary texts and their English translation is a very useful method for advanced learners. Even though the works presented here are highly regarded, I didn't particularly like any and forced myself to finish most of them.
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In diesem Zitat wird ein sprachbehinderter Kellner beschrieben, was mich sehr berührt hat.
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In diesem Zitat wird ein sprachbehinderter Kellner beschrieben, was mich sehr berührt hat.
“Tausendmal am Tag verspottet, an jedem Tisch belächelt, belacht, bemitleidet, begrinst, beschrien. Tausendmal an jedem Tag [...] an jedem Tisch einen Zentimeter in sich hineingekrochen, geduckt, geschrumpft. Tausendmal an jedem Tag [...] kleiner, immer kleiner geworden. Die Zunge, [...] plumper unfähiger roter Muskelklumpen, hatte ihn zum Pygmäen erdrückt; kleiner, kleiner Kellner!”—Wolfgang Borchert, Der Kellner meines Onkels.
July 28, 2018
They say that autodidactic language reading is one of the best ways to learn a language. And this really helped me understand German better! The stories themselves were an interesting insight into post-war times, but I felt like each story left me hanging. A couple were really good, and others had potential and then the ending was poor. Others still made no sense to me at all. It could be that I’m missing a lot of the cultural context here. I recommend the book for language learning’s sake, but not necessarily for the stories themselves.
February 17, 2024
I was in the library hoping to find a Heinrich Böll book and although they didn’t have one, this collection of short stories contains his 'Pale Anna'; I just had to read it. What a wonderful story it is. I read it several times and may borrow the book again just to read it once more. I enjoyed some of the other stories too and find these collections of different author’s writings fascinating.
November 20, 2020
A gem with some enjoyable stories and idioms! My favourite one is “Antigone und der Gartenzwerg” von Gaiser.
The book came right on time for me, since I was in need of some vauge, fantastic narration of reality.
The book came right on time for me, since I was in need of some vauge, fantastic narration of reality.
September 19, 2021
My first full book in German! An interesting and diverse collection of short stories from the post-War period. Especially enjoyed 'Blasse Anna' and 'Dame am Steuer'. 'Spiegelgeschichte' was also very innovative in structure.
June 7, 2025
Some very difficult vocabulary and really lots of words you just wouldn’t use in everyday situations.
A couple of the stories were amusing/interesting but overall I’m glad I’ve finished and can now move on to something more interesting and useful.
A couple of the stories were amusing/interesting but overall I’m glad I’ve finished and can now move on to something more interesting and useful.
November 17, 2025
I picked this book up when I first started learning German, around A1-2 level and found it quite difficult partly with the grammar but mainly with the vocab. I would say this was alot more easier to read at B1.
July 8, 2018
Has drastically improved my german
July 11, 2024
Story In Reverse by Isle Aichinger and Thithyphuth, or My Uncle's Waiter by Wolfgang Borchert were the most interesting
February 10, 2025
Dieses Buch war das erste Buch, das ich auf Deutsch gelesen habe, und ich würde es empfehlen, wenn Sie Deutsch lernen.
August 26, 2021
What a pleasant surprise. Although the reason (more of an excuse) to read this book was to pick up on the German I left behind for nine years or so, this experience proved to be better than just remembering conjugation and nouns.
The editor and translators made a great effort of providing the readers with pertinent German short stories from the Post War era full of feeling and cultural references. A deep dive into the German mind after trauma, pain, loss, and new beginnings.
I consider some of these stories my personal favorites (Spiegelgeschichte, the best of them). I never thought German authors would leave that deep an impression on me throughout eight or so pages.
All the more, knowing some German helped me overcome the obstacles translation inevitably creates. And, best yet, to assess the choices each translator made to adapt and preserve the feelings and ideas portrayed.
The editor and translators made a great effort of providing the readers with pertinent German short stories from the Post War era full of feeling and cultural references. A deep dive into the German mind after trauma, pain, loss, and new beginnings.
I consider some of these stories my personal favorites (Spiegelgeschichte, the best of them). I never thought German authors would leave that deep an impression on me throughout eight or so pages.
All the more, knowing some German helped me overcome the obstacles translation inevitably creates. And, best yet, to assess the choices each translator made to adapt and preserve the feelings and ideas portrayed.
October 6, 2008
I found this book in a discard pile and set it aside for some German review. It's a collection of eight short stories from the post World War II era in Germany and Austria, when the short story form developed in post-Nazi German literature, in part from the influence of the Allies occupation, and in part, I suspect, because the form lends itself to curtly conveying the mood, the ache, and the struggle of those times.
Parallel text format means the left page in the open book offers the story in German while the right page does so in English, so you can move back and forth. I enjoy using it to try to follow along in German, and when a word stumps me, I first try to get a sense of it from syntax, then check quickly for the English translation. (I must admit, for the final story, which was told with constant misspellings in both languages to represent dialogues with lisping, I gave up and just read it in English.)
The eight authors are Heinrich Boell, Ilse Aichinger, Hans Bender, Gertrud Fussenegger, Gerd Gaiser, Wolfdietrich Schnurre, Reinhard Lettau, and Wolfgang Borchert. The stories I liked the best were Gaiser's "Gartenzwerg," in which two men become obsessed with the same garden gnome (the folks at Travelocity would love this one); Schnurre's "Im Trocadero," in which the narrator sees two social worlds he knows collide in a nightclub; and Borchert's "Schischyphusch," in which a one-legged patron and a tiny waiter in a restaurant both talk with a lisp, and each thinks the other is mocking him.
Parallel text format means the left page in the open book offers the story in German while the right page does so in English, so you can move back and forth. I enjoy using it to try to follow along in German, and when a word stumps me, I first try to get a sense of it from syntax, then check quickly for the English translation. (I must admit, for the final story, which was told with constant misspellings in both languages to represent dialogues with lisping, I gave up and just read it in English.)
The eight authors are Heinrich Boell, Ilse Aichinger, Hans Bender, Gertrud Fussenegger, Gerd Gaiser, Wolfdietrich Schnurre, Reinhard Lettau, and Wolfgang Borchert. The stories I liked the best were Gaiser's "Gartenzwerg," in which two men become obsessed with the same garden gnome (the folks at Travelocity would love this one); Schnurre's "Im Trocadero," in which the narrator sees two social worlds he knows collide in a nightclub; and Borchert's "Schischyphusch," in which a one-legged patron and a tiny waiter in a restaurant both talk with a lisp, and each thinks the other is mocking him.
March 6, 2013
Some great short stories, and the dual-language format makes this a really useful way of improving one's German. I found the first story, Blass Anna, quite easy going despite not having great German skills. The language used in the stories gets more complex as the book progressed but, as I read it piecemeal over the course of about 18 months, I found that my German improved at a similar rate (although the final story, with its two lisping speakers and its frequent bursting into strings of made-up adjectives, defeated me in parts). Something unexpected which I got from this book was quite a clear sense of the German psyche of the 1950s and 60s - the misery of war survivors and returning prisoners-of-war who were merely existing and avoiding the past. Most of the stories have a gloomy cast, but there are plenty of moments of humour too.
April 22, 2016
I often find short stories to be hit or miss, so I did not expect much from this collection of translated post-war German-language short stories. But to my surprise I liked all of them at least a little, and two of them (Ilsa Aichinger's "Story in Reverse" and Reinhard Lettau's "When Potemkin's Coach Went By") were stunning.
June 2, 2014
I read this having just come out of a 4 year German degree. I liked "Die Blasse Anna" (Böll) Dame am Steuer (Fussenegger) and Schisyphusch oder der Kellner (Borchert). The rest were either too strange or too dull.
January 4, 2016
The first story was my favourite in terms of being well-written, about thinking of beauty during the war and finding it afterwards, although other people could not see the beauty in the girl’s scarred face.
November 16, 2007
wonderful selection, great literature.
March 23, 2009
I Cant Even Find What Im Looking For :( =[
from Nicole XxXxXxX
from Nicole XxXxXxX
December 16, 2010
The short story, Beim Vorbeifahren der Potemkinschen Kutsche (When Potemkin's Coach Went By) is alone worth the price of this small text.
December 17, 2011
Great book. Very useful to learn German.
The last two stories are the hardest to understand but also the most interesting.
The last two stories are the hardest to understand but also the most interesting.
October 14, 2015
Some of these are better than others
My favourites
Heinrich Böll
Hans Bender
Wolf Dietrich Schnurre
Wolfgang Borchert
My favourites
Heinrich Böll
Hans Bender
Wolf Dietrich Schnurre
Wolfgang Borchert
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews