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This is a selection of classic German books
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3.90 avg rating — 1,393,061 ratings
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3

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3.69 avg rating — 153,082 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 212,521 ratings
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4.04 avg rating — 545,160 ratings
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3.94 avg rating — 388,696 ratings
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7

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4.23 avg rating — 220,547 ratings
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8

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4.08 avg rating — 866,648 ratings
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9

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4.11 avg rating — 515,047 ratings
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10

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4.20 avg rating — 35,181 ratings
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11

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4.27 avg rating — 167,738 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 174,056 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 71,824 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 229,741 ratings
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15

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3.42 avg rating — 12,816 ratings
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16

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3.27 avg rating — 16,173 ratings
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17

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3.81 avg rating — 8,846 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 60,563 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 133,543 ratings
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20

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3.69 avg rating — 18,238 ratings
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21

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3.95 avg rating — 46,498 ratings
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22

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3.89 avg rating — 42,612 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 219,233 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 42,066 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 27,269 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 26,034 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 37,310 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,238 ratings
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29

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3.93 avg rating — 9,867 ratings
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30

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4.28 avg rating — 3,385 ratings
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31

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3.68 avg rating — 31,092 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,148 ratings
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33

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3.62 avg rating — 22,574 ratings
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34

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4.07 avg rating — 5,818 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 8,999 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 13,755 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 94,662 ratings
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38

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4.02 avg rating — 2,309 ratings
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39

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3.72 avg rating — 2,766 ratings
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40

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3.66 avg rating — 18,622 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 20,804 ratings
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42

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3.88 avg rating — 14,334 ratings
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43

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3.08 avg rating — 6,028 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 9,697 ratings
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45

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3.86 avg rating — 356 ratings
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46

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3.35 avg rating — 1,814 ratings
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47

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3.70 avg rating — 17,295 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 4,984 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,699 ratings
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50

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3.82 avg rating — 14,283 ratings
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51

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3.06 avg rating — 12,946 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 8,290 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,155 ratings
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54

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3.30 avg rating — 1,648 ratings
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55

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3.76 avg rating — 3,471 ratings
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56

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3.98 avg rating — 2,688 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 7,327 ratings
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58

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4.09 avg rating — 12,088 ratings
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59

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3.85 avg rating — 13,955 ratings
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60

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3.46 avg rating — 10,388 ratings
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61

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3.28 avg rating — 2,047 ratings
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62

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3.74 avg rating — 9,070 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 14,678 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 13,578 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 22,021 ratings
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66

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3.69 avg rating — 67,386 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 31,737 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,556 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 112,485 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 10,848 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,284 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,389 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,306 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 11,878 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,717 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 1,795 ratings
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77

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3.92 avg rating — 74,418 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 8,962 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 928 ratings
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80

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3.73 avg rating — 455 ratings
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81

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3.48 avg rating — 4,650 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 — 522 ratings
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83

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3.17 avg rating — 8,572 ratings
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85

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3.87 avg rating — 386 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 2,649 ratings
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87

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3.86 avg rating — 428 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 — 2,178 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 35,099 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 — 20,999 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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3.67 avg rating — 138 ratings
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96

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3.51 avg rating — 2,162 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 9,305 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,848 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,726 ratings
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100

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3.80 avg rating — 2,668 ratings
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226 books · 149 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 5196 books
1478 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2845 books
352 friends
Erich 778 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 312 books
11 friends
Chanel 1158 books
169 friends

More voters…


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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