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This is a selection of classic German books
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3.91 avg rating — 1,486,476 ratings
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3

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3.70 avg rating — 159,511 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 220,875 ratings
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4.04 avg rating — 570,262 ratings
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3.94 avg rating — 408,607 ratings
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4.23 avg rating — 222,593 ratings
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4.09 avg rating — 895,934 ratings
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4.26 avg rating — 182,613 ratings
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4.12 avg rating — 530,459 ratings
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4.20 avg rating — 36,836 ratings
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12

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4.07 avg rating — 180,544 ratings
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13

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4.22 avg rating — 74,522 ratings
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14

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3.79 avg rating — 234,998 ratings
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15

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3.42 avg rating — 13,327 ratings
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16

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3.28 avg rating — 16,753 ratings
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17

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3.82 avg rating — 9,082 ratings
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18

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4.13 avg rating — 63,848 ratings
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19

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4.14 avg rating — 139,846 ratings
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20

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3.89 avg rating — 44,788 ratings
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21

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3.70 avg rating — 18,985 ratings
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22

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3.95 avg rating — 47,191 ratings
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23

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4.18 avg rating — 224,498 ratings
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24

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4.10 avg rating — 43,159 ratings
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25

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3.56 avg rating — 28,972 ratings
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26

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2.95 avg rating — 27,263 ratings
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27

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3.67 avg rating — 39,619 ratings
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28

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3.31 avg rating — 19,936 ratings
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29

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3.92 avg rating — 10,130 ratings
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30

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4.28 avg rating — 3,446 ratings
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31

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3.68 avg rating — 32,301 ratings
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32

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3.84 avg rating — 11,511 ratings
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33

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3.63 avg rating — 23,194 ratings
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34

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4.08 avg rating — 6,060 ratings
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35

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3.21 avg rating — 9,342 ratings
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36

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4.08 avg rating — 14,239 ratings
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36

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4.34 avg rating — 99,201 ratings
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38

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3.66 avg rating — 19,248 ratings
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39

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4.02 avg rating — 2,347 ratings
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40

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3.72 avg rating — 2,830 ratings
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41

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3.76 avg rating — 22,490 ratings
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42

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3.87 avg rating — 14,697 ratings
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43

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liked it 3.00 avg rating — 7,299 ratings
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44

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3.38 avg rating — 10,048 ratings
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45

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3.86 avg rating — 360 ratings
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46

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3.36 avg rating — 1,867 ratings
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47

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3.70 avg rating — 18,161 ratings
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48

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3.54 avg rating — 5,122 ratings
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49

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3.85 avg rating — 3,808 ratings
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50

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3.81 avg rating — 14,644 ratings
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51

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3.07 avg rating — 13,565 ratings
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52

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3.79 avg rating — 8,404 ratings
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53

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3.92 avg rating — 16,241 ratings
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54

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3.30 avg rating — 1,688 ratings
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55

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56

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3.99 avg rating — 2,796 ratings
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57

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4.18 avg rating — 7,527 ratings
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58

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4.08 avg rating — 12,248 ratings
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59

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3.86 avg rating — 14,748 ratings
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60

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3.46 avg rating — 10,911 ratings
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61

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62

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3.74 avg rating — 9,254 ratings
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63

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2.92 avg rating — 15,586 ratings
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64

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3.68 avg rating — 14,118 ratings
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65

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3.73 avg rating — 23,017 ratings
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66

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3.68 avg rating — 71,118 ratings
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67

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3.93 avg rating — 32,630 ratings
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68

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4.21 avg rating — 5,748 ratings
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69

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4.03 avg rating — 117,210 ratings
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70

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3.90 avg rating — 11,535 ratings
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71

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3.66 avg rating — 13,813 ratings
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71

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3.64 avg rating — 3,475 ratings
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73

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3.30 avg rating — 9,737 ratings
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74

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3.98 avg rating — 12,262 ratings
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75

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3.31 avg rating — 6,959 ratings
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76

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3.84 avg rating — 1,819 ratings
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77

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3.91 avg rating — 77,892 ratings
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78

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4.15 avg rating — 9,561 ratings
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79

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3.80 avg rating — 953 ratings
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80

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3.74 avg rating — 460 ratings
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81

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3.48 avg rating — 4,869 ratings
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82

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4.33 avg rating — 75 ratings
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83

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3.78 avg rating — 539 ratings
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83

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3.17 avg rating — 8,931 ratings
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85

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3.89 avg rating — 404 ratings
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85

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3.87 avg rating — 2,853 ratings
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87

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3.87 avg rating — 455 ratings
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88

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3.88 avg rating — 57 ratings
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89

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4.43 avg rating — 2,263 ratings
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89

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4.12 avg rating — 36,889 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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3.97 avg rating — 21,865 ratings
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93

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3.68 avg rating — 259 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 — 142 ratings
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96

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3.51 avg rating — 2,215 ratings
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97

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4.26 avg rating — 9,492 ratings
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98

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4.22 avg rating — 5,991 ratings
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99

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4.19 avg rating — 5,865 ratings
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100

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3.81 avg rating — 2,780 ratings
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227 books · 151 voters · list created May 24th, 2009 by Malika Schuessel (votes) .
151 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Malika 6 books
16 friends
Ricki 5272 books
1477 friends
Askina 68 books
1 friend
Steffi ~mereadingbooks~ 2851 books
350 friends
Erich 776 books
10 friends
Exentaser 873 books
66 friends
Sven 339 books
10 friends
Chanel 1181 books
169 friends

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Comments Showing 1-5 of 5 (5 new)

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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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