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This is a selection of classic German books
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3.90 avg rating — 1,424,488 ratings
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3

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3.69 avg rating — 154,975 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 215,194 ratings
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4.04 avg rating — 552,600 ratings
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3.94 avg rating — 394,631 ratings
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4.23 avg rating — 221,207 ratings
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4.08 avg rating — 876,062 ratings
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9

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4.27 avg rating — 172,385 ratings
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10

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4.11 avg rating — 519,784 ratings
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11

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4.20 avg rating — 35,640 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 176,246 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 72,653 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 231,306 ratings
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15

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3.42 avg rating — 12,974 ratings
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16

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3.28 avg rating — 16,328 ratings
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17

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3.82 avg rating — 8,926 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 61,553 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 135,498 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 43,253 ratings
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21

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3.70 avg rating — 18,459 ratings
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22

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3.95 avg rating — 46,688 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 220,830 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 42,403 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 27,769 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 26,417 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 37,957 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,440 ratings
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29

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3.92 avg rating — 9,946 ratings
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30

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4.28 avg rating — 3,408 ratings
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31

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3.68 avg rating — 31,468 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,269 ratings
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33

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3.62 avg rating — 22,725 ratings
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34

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4.08 avg rating — 5,883 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 9,083 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 13,885 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 96,042 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 18,802 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 — 2,780 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 21,307 ratings
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42

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3.88 avg rating — 14,446 ratings
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43

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3.05 avg rating — 6,425 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 9,803 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 — 1,826 ratings
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47

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3.70 avg rating — 17,559 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 5,044 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,746 ratings
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50

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3.81 avg rating — 14,363 ratings
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51

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3.06 avg rating — 13,102 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 8,319 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,183 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 — 3,492 ratings
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56

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3.98 avg rating — 2,721 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 7,382 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 12,224 ratings
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59

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3.85 avg rating — 14,202 ratings
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60

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3.46 avg rating — 10,907 ratings
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61

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3.27 avg rating — 2,058 ratings
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62

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3.74 avg rating — 9,119 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 14,922 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 13,745 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 22,319 ratings
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66

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3.68 avg rating — 68,515 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 31,964 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,629 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 114,018 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 11,057 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,429 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,414 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,440 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 12,004 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,788 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 1,803 ratings
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77

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3.91 avg rating — 75,427 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 9,136 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 936 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 — 4,669 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 — 8,702 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 391 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 2,692 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 — 2,205 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 35,677 ratings
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91

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4.23 avg rating — 344 ratings
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92

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3.98 avg rating — 21,245 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 — 139 ratings
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96

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3.51 avg rating — 2,180 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 9,362 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,893 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,761 ratings
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100

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3.81 avg rating — 2,692 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 5218 books
1478 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2847 books
353 friends
Erich 781 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 320 books
11 friends
Chanel 1163 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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