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Great German Short Novels and Stories
The German short story or, as it is usually called, the Novelle, is one of the most impressive achievements of modern German literature. It is, perhaps, the only form which can claim a distinct tradition and which has produced a remarkably homogeneous body of excellence. From Goethe to Thomas Mann and Kafka, from the end of the eighteenth century to our own day no literary form - neither the drama nor the lyric nor, indeed, the novel itself - has attracted an equal number of first-rate German writers, and in no other area of the creative imagination is it so rewarding to trace the development of the form from an early pattern of anecdotal purpose to the subtle and intricate texture of our contemporary kind of narrative.
- GenresShort Stories
486 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1952
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 30, 2015
My familiarity with literature in German is unfortunately not great. I have read a great deal of Thomas Mann and Franz Kafka in translation, but little from other German-language authors. Buying and reading a used copy of the 1952 hardback “Great German Short Novels and Stories,” edited by Victor Lange, gave me a good introduction to several German authors I had not read before: among them Goethe, Schiller, Kleist, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Heine, Hauptmann, Schnitzler, and Heinrich Mann.
The stories range over three centuries and a variety of styles and subject matter. Three stories especially caught and held my interest.
“Flagman Thiel” (1888) by Gerhardt Hauptmann, better known as a playwright, is a story about a methodical man, a flagman working for the German railroad, who is crushed by forces beyond his control. The naturalistic story is a psychological thriller ending in murder and madness.
“Plautus in the Convent” by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer was of special interest because several months earlier I had read the book “Swerve” about the discovery in 1417 by Poggio Bracciolini, a former papal secretary, of a copy of Lucretius’ “On the Nature of Things” in a monastery in Switzerland. The Swiss author’s 1881 short story features the same Poggio, former papal secretary, telling a group of Florentines, including leader of Florence Cosimo d’Medici, a story about searching for and finding two plays by the Roman playwright Plautus in a Swiss convent. The short story shares some of the style, character, and humor of the plays of Plautus.
Heinrich Heine’s 1851 “Gods in Exile” is a witty story/essay about the ancient Greek and Roman gods and goddesses who, being routed by the triumph of Christianity, had to flee, assume disguises, and do menial work. “Under these circumstances several, whose shrines had been confiscated, became wood-choppers and day-laborers in Germany, and were compelled to drink beer instead of nectar.” Hah.
Heine relates the fate of Jupiter/Zeus, the king of the gods and has the narrator say in the penultimate paragraph of the story: “Decay is secretly undermining all that is great in the universe, and the gods themselves must finally succumb to the same miserable destiny. The iron law of fate so wills it, and even the greatest of the immortals must submissively bow his head. He of whom Homer sang, and whom Phidias sculptured in gold and ivory, he at whose glance earth trembled, he, the lover of Leda, Alcmena, Semele, Danae, Calisto, Io, Leto, Europa, etc. – even he is compelled to hide himself behind the icebergs of the North Pole, and in order to prolong his wretched existence must deal in rabbit-skins like a shabby Savoyard!”
The images of the gods and goddesses drinking beer instead of ambrosia, and Jupiter reduced to selling rabbit skins brought a smile to my face. However, beyond the humor, the idea that everything changes in human life, even our deities, that all is subject to the “iron law of fate” is something to contemplate.
The stories range over three centuries and a variety of styles and subject matter. Three stories especially caught and held my interest.
“Flagman Thiel” (1888) by Gerhardt Hauptmann, better known as a playwright, is a story about a methodical man, a flagman working for the German railroad, who is crushed by forces beyond his control. The naturalistic story is a psychological thriller ending in murder and madness.
“Plautus in the Convent” by Conrad Ferdinand Meyer was of special interest because several months earlier I had read the book “Swerve” about the discovery in 1417 by Poggio Bracciolini, a former papal secretary, of a copy of Lucretius’ “On the Nature of Things” in a monastery in Switzerland. The Swiss author’s 1881 short story features the same Poggio, former papal secretary, telling a group of Florentines, including leader of Florence Cosimo d’Medici, a story about searching for and finding two plays by the Roman playwright Plautus in a Swiss convent. The short story shares some of the style, character, and humor of the plays of Plautus.
Heinrich Heine’s 1851 “Gods in Exile” is a witty story/essay about the ancient Greek and Roman gods and goddesses who, being routed by the triumph of Christianity, had to flee, assume disguises, and do menial work. “Under these circumstances several, whose shrines had been confiscated, became wood-choppers and day-laborers in Germany, and were compelled to drink beer instead of nectar.” Hah.
Heine relates the fate of Jupiter/Zeus, the king of the gods and has the narrator say in the penultimate paragraph of the story: “Decay is secretly undermining all that is great in the universe, and the gods themselves must finally succumb to the same miserable destiny. The iron law of fate so wills it, and even the greatest of the immortals must submissively bow his head. He of whom Homer sang, and whom Phidias sculptured in gold and ivory, he at whose glance earth trembled, he, the lover of Leda, Alcmena, Semele, Danae, Calisto, Io, Leto, Europa, etc. – even he is compelled to hide himself behind the icebergs of the North Pole, and in order to prolong his wretched existence must deal in rabbit-skins like a shabby Savoyard!”
The images of the gods and goddesses drinking beer instead of ambrosia, and Jupiter reduced to selling rabbit skins brought a smile to my face. However, beyond the humor, the idea that everything changes in human life, even our deities, that all is subject to the “iron law of fate” is something to contemplate.
September 15, 2009
Anthologies are always spotty but enlightening, but, since I'd never read either The Sorrows of Young Werther or Death in Venice, what could I lose?
Whether just Lange's choices or a real element of German novellas, the selections were characterized by a claustrophobic feeling and a rich indebtedness to the Grimm Brothers folkloreK.
Aside from Thomas Mann, the stories that appealed most to me were Kleist's The Earthquake in Chile, Annette on Droste-Hulshoff's The Jews' Beech Tree, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's Plautus in the Convent (which had a much brighter and more "classical" feeling than the others) and uptmann's Flagman Thiel. And now I know what is meant by a "Tale of Hoffman," and can move on.
Whether just Lange's choices or a real element of German novellas, the selections were characterized by a claustrophobic feeling and a rich indebtedness to the Grimm Brothers folkloreK.
Aside from Thomas Mann, the stories that appealed most to me were Kleist's The Earthquake in Chile, Annette on Droste-Hulshoff's The Jews' Beech Tree, Conrad Ferdinand Meyer's Plautus in the Convent
August 20, 2017
Didn't read everything in this collection (spare me young Werther!), but most. Storm's Immensee (also called Lake of the Bees) and Droste-Hülshoff's The Jews' Beech Tree are very fine.
Want to read
September 10, 2025Read so far:
The sorrows of young Werther / Johann Wolfgang von Goethe --2
The sport of destiny / Friedrich von Schiller --2
The earthquake in Chile / Heinrich von Kleist --3
The story of the just Casper and fair Annie / Clemens Brentano --3
*The Cremona violin / Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann --
The Jews' beech tree / Annette von Droste-Hülshoff --2
Gods in exile / Heinrich Heine --2
*Immensee / Theodor W. Storm --
The naughty Saint Vitalis / Gottfried Keller --
Plautus in the convent / Conrad Ferdinand Meyer --
Flagman Thiel / Gerhart Hauptmann --3
A farewell / Arthur Schnitzler --
How old Timofei died singing / Rainer Maria Rilke --2
The burning of Egliswyl / Frank Wedekind --
Three minute novel / Heinrich Mann --
Death in Venice / Thomas Mann --1
A country doctor / Franz Kafka--1
The sorrows of young Werther / Johann Wolfgang von Goethe --2
The sport of destiny / Friedrich von Schiller --2
The earthquake in Chile / Heinrich von Kleist --3
The story of the just Casper and fair Annie / Clemens Brentano --3
*The Cremona violin / Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann --
The Jews' beech tree / Annette von Droste-Hülshoff --2
Gods in exile / Heinrich Heine --2
*Immensee / Theodor W. Storm --
The naughty Saint Vitalis / Gottfried Keller --
Plautus in the convent / Conrad Ferdinand Meyer --
Flagman Thiel / Gerhart Hauptmann --3
A farewell / Arthur Schnitzler --
How old Timofei died singing / Rainer Maria Rilke --2
The burning of Egliswyl / Frank Wedekind --
Three minute novel / Heinrich Mann --
Death in Venice / Thomas Mann --1
A country doctor / Franz Kafka--1
November 15, 2014
The range of emotions that this compilation covers, whether its obsession with self in Thomas Mann's piece 'Death in Venice', or the strangely cruel works of Gerhart Hauptmann or Frank Wedekind, or even the unique take on mythology in Heinrich Heine's 'Gods in Exile', was a treat to read... Wish I could erase some of my memory so that I could re-read the collection!!
March 4, 2016
A very entertaining assortment. I picked up the book years ago along with Rilke and Thomas Mann, and I just got around to reading it after finishing a bio of Thomas Mann. My favorite story within was IMMENSEE by Theodor Storm. It's a nice little book for carrying around wherever you go and the pieces are brief but having depth in a world gone forever way.
November 5, 2011
Wonderful collection of classic German short stories and novels. My favourite story was 'Immensee' by Theodor Storm. You can find my longer review here.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews