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This is a selection of classic German books
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3.91 avg rating — 1,434,007 ratings
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3

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3.69 avg rating — 155,619 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 215,999 ratings
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5

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4.04 avg rating — 555,093 ratings
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6

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3.94 avg rating — 396,608 ratings
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7

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4.23 avg rating — 221,407 ratings
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8

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4.08 avg rating — 879,093 ratings
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9

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4.27 avg rating — 173,892 ratings
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10

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4.11 avg rating — 520,992 ratings
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11

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4.20 avg rating — 35,805 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 176,889 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 72,898 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 231,846 ratings
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15

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3.42 avg rating — 13,020 ratings
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16

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3.28 avg rating — 16,372 ratings
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17

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3.81 avg rating — 8,941 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 61,838 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 136,039 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 43,455 ratings
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21

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3.70 avg rating — 18,516 ratings
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22

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3.95 avg rating — 46,755 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 221,347 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 42,484 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 27,936 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 26,528 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 38,182 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,519 ratings
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29

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3.92 avg rating — 9,970 ratings
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30

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4.28 avg rating — 3,416 ratings
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31

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3.68 avg rating — 31,572 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,309 ratings
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33

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3.62 avg rating — 22,781 ratings
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34

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4.08 avg rating — 5,906 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 9,118 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 13,921 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 96,517 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 18,868 ratings
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39

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4.02 avg rating — 2,311 ratings
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40

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3.72 avg rating — 2,783 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 21,450 ratings
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42

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3.88 avg rating — 14,474 ratings
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43

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3.03 avg rating — 6,685 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 9,835 ratings
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45

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3.86 avg rating — 359 ratings
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46

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3.35 avg rating — 1,831 ratings
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47

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3.71 avg rating — 17,627 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 5,057 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,754 ratings
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50

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3.81 avg rating — 14,392 ratings
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51

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3.06 avg rating — 13,169 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 8,305 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,188 ratings
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54

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3.30 avg rating — 1,657 ratings
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55

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3.77 avg rating — 3,500 ratings
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56

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3.98 avg rating — 2,732 ratings
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57

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4.18 avg rating — 7,408 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 12,238 ratings
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59

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3.85 avg rating — 14,273 ratings
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60

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3.47 avg rating — 10,967 ratings
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61

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3.27 avg rating — 2,059 ratings
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62

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3.74 avg rating — 9,144 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 15,005 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 13,809 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 22,424 ratings
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66

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3.68 avg rating — 68,848 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 32,036 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,645 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 114,453 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 11,116 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,486 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,427 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,477 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 12,032 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,808 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 1,804 ratings
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77

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3.91 avg rating — 75,787 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 9,199 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 935 ratings
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80

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3.74 avg rating — 456 ratings
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81

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3.49 avg rating — 4,792 ratings
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82

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4.35 avg rating — 75 ratings
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83

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3.79 avg rating — 526 ratings
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83

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3.17 avg rating — 8,735 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 389 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 2,711 ratings
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87

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3.86 avg rating — 443 ratings
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88

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3.88 avg rating — 56 ratings
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89

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4.44 avg rating — 2,211 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 35,854 ratings
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91

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4.23 avg rating — 343 ratings
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92

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3.98 avg rating — 21,338 ratings
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93

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3.70 avg rating — 248 ratings
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94

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4.07 avg rating — 44 ratings
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95

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3.66 avg rating — 140 ratings
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96

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3.51 avg rating — 2,184 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 9,377 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,900 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,776 ratings
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100

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3.81 avg rating — 2,705 ratings
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227 books · 151 voters · list created May 24th, 2009 by Malika Schuessel (votes) .
150 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Malika 6 books
16 friends
Ricki 5222 books
1476 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2848 books
352 friends
Erich 781 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 320 books
11 friends
Chanel 1166 books
169 friends

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Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Dec 13, 2013 03:50AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Malika Schuessel
Classic 'German' books, means originally written in German, I assume? (Because there are other nationalities than German on this list as well).


message 2: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Dec 13, 2013 03:25AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) No matter how you look upon it, Praise of Folly by Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus is not a German classic and as such has been removed.


message 3: by Stefanie (new)

Stefanie Brune @ Booklovinglady
Some of these books were written before there was a "Germany" as we know it today. Borders have shifted many times in the last centuries, and for years during the middle ages and even later there only were numerous German-speaking principalities and city-states. Even the word "Deutschland" is derived from "Deutsch", the language, and not the other way round. German literature has always meant to include literature originally written in German, and is taught like that in German literature classes at German schools today, no matter if the authors lived in what today is Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Prague (f.i. Kafka) or formerly German speaking regions in Poland and the Czech Republic.


message 4: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited May 09, 2019 10:08AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Stefanie wrote: "@ Booklovinglady
German literature has always meant to include literature originally written in German ..."


I agree but that doesn't change the fact that Praise of folly does not belong on this list. It was originally written in Latin, not in German, and Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was not German. The part of the Netherlands were he was born (Rotterdam) during the end of the 15th century was not German. So whichever way you look upon it, the book shouldn't be on this list in my opinion (but do correct me if I'm wrong).

As to my earlier remark, I agree that books written in German do not necessarily have to be from the present day Germany. Of course they don't. Even today German is also spoken and writtten in other countries than Germany. But isn't that just what I said...?


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) I have my doubts about Priest Konrad's Song of Roland (#179) being on this list, as La Chanson de Roland was originally written in French. As the introduction says: "The Rolandslied is a Middle High German translation of the French Chanson de Roland, dating from around 1170".
So this work is is definitely a translation, no matter how old (or the book has been combined wrongly to editions of La Chanson de Roland).


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