John’s Reviews > Bright Magic: Stories > Status Update

John, thanks for drawing my attention to Döblin’s short stories, which I haven’t read yet. I know several of his novels, which are excellent; my favourite is “Wallenstein”.

Peter wrote: "John, thanks for drawing my attention to Döblin’s short stories, which I haven’t read yet. I know several of his novels, which are excellent; my favourite is “Wallenstein”."

Glad you could be alerted to it. This collections seems to range from 1910s-1940s and is mostly magical realism, at least from what I've read so far. The first half is the entirety of his first novel, Die Ermordung einer Butterblume.

My copy is an ARC so I am missing a few parts of the finished collection, particularly an introduction by Günter Grass that I would have loved to read.

The only other work of Döblin's I've read before is Berlin Alexanderplatz, which I still consider a personal favorite and my overall favorite of German literature. I do have a copy of November 1918 that I'd love to get to soon as well. I'll definitely look into Wallenstein.

John, I agree that “Berlin Alexanderplatz” is an important book in German literature. What a shame you missed out on Grass’s foreword, apparently Grass regarded Döblin as his ‘teacher’. Good luck with ‘Wallenstein’!