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This is a selection of classic German books
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3.91 avg rating — 1,432,022 ratings
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3

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3.69 avg rating — 155,468 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 215,830 ratings
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4.04 avg rating — 554,580 ratings
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3.94 avg rating — 396,177 ratings
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4.23 avg rating — 221,364 ratings
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4.08 avg rating — 878,471 ratings
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9

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4.27 avg rating — 173,550 ratings
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10

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4.11 avg rating — 520,642 ratings
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11

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4.20 avg rating — 35,779 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 176,743 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 72,858 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 231,734 ratings
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15

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3.42 avg rating — 13,009 ratings
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16

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3.28 avg rating — 16,365 ratings
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17

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3.81 avg rating — 8,937 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 61,782 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 135,919 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 43,412 ratings
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21

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3.70 avg rating — 18,508 ratings
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22

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3.95 avg rating — 46,740 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 221,253 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 42,470 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 27,910 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 26,503 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 38,140 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,504 ratings
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29

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3.92 avg rating — 9,964 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 — 31,557 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,301 ratings
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33

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3.62 avg rating — 22,770 ratings
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34

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4.08 avg rating — 5,900 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 9,106 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 13,918 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 96,424 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 18,855 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 — 2,779 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 21,425 ratings
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42

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3.88 avg rating — 14,468 ratings
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43

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3.03 avg rating — 6,657 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 9,832 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 — 1,830 ratings
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47

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3.71 avg rating — 17,613 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 5,056 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,753 ratings
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50

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3.81 avg rating — 14,385 ratings
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51

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3.06 avg rating — 13,159 ratings
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52

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3.80 avg rating — 8,306 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,185 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 — 3,497 ratings
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56

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3.98 avg rating — 2,729 ratings
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57

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4.19 avg rating — 7,401 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 — 14,259 ratings
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60

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3.47 avg rating — 10,954 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 — 9,139 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 14,982 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 13,791 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 22,409 ratings
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66

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3.68 avg rating — 68,779 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 32,019 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,639 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 114,362 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 11,104 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,467 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,426 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,467 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 12,027 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,803 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 1,805 ratings
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77

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3.91 avg rating — 75,718 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 9,191 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 — 4,781 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 — 8,723 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 390 ratings
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85

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3.88 avg rating — 2,706 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 — 2,209 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 35,809 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 — 21,313 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 — 9,375 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,899 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,772 ratings
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100

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3.81 avg rating — 2,704 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 5221 books
1478 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 1165 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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