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This is a selection of classic German books
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3.90 avg rating — 1,428,307 ratings
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3

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3.69 avg rating — 155,208 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 215,538 ratings
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4.04 avg rating — 553,616 ratings
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3.94 avg rating — 395,443 ratings
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4.23 avg rating — 221,285 ratings
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4.08 avg rating — 877,332 ratings
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9

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4.27 avg rating — 172,966 ratings
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10

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4.11 avg rating — 520,456 ratings
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11

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4.20 avg rating — 35,688 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 176,522 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 72,757 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 231,533 ratings
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15

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3.42 avg rating — 12,991 ratings
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16

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3.28 avg rating — 16,342 ratings
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17

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3.82 avg rating — 8,930 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 61,679 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 135,708 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 43,340 ratings
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21

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3.70 avg rating — 18,487 ratings
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22

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3.95 avg rating — 46,718 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 221,078 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 42,439 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 27,829 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 26,463 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 38,042 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,470 ratings
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29

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3.92 avg rating — 9,956 ratings
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30

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4.28 avg rating — 3,413 ratings
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31

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3.68 avg rating — 31,513 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,290 ratings
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33

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3.62 avg rating — 22,746 ratings
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34

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4.08 avg rating — 5,891 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 9,096 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 13,906 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 96,229 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 18,830 ratings
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39

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4.02 avg rating — 2,310 ratings
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40

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3.72 avg rating — 2,779 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 21,372 ratings
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42

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3.88 avg rating — 14,459 ratings
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43

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3.05 avg rating — 6,485 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 9,822 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 — 1,827 ratings
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47

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3.71 avg rating — 17,589 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 5,047 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,750 ratings
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50

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3.81 avg rating — 14,380 ratings
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51

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3.06 avg rating — 13,134 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 8,325 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,186 ratings
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54

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3.30 avg rating — 1,658 ratings
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55

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3.77 avg rating — 3,493 ratings
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56

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3.98 avg rating — 2,725 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 7,393 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 12,231 ratings
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59

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3.85 avg rating — 14,236 ratings
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60

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3.47 avg rating — 10,938 ratings
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61

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3.27 avg rating — 2,060 ratings
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62

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3.74 avg rating — 9,129 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 14,957 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 13,774 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 22,376 ratings
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66

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3.68 avg rating — 68,649 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 31,990 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,635 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 114,198 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 11,079 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,451 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,419 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,450 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 12,019 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,797 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 — 75,572 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 9,163 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 — 455 ratings
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81

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3.48 avg rating — 4,676 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 — 8,714 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 388 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 2,701 ratings
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87

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3.86 avg rating — 442 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 — 2,207 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 35,745 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 — 21,276 ratings
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93

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3.70 avg rating — 247 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 — 2,182 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 9,367 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,898 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,769 ratings
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100

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3.81 avg rating — 2,698 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 5219 books
1478 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2847 books
352 friends
Erich 781 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 320 books
11 friends
Chanel 1164 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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