5 short German Novellas chosen by Gregor Hens

I  decide to ask the German writer Translator and Critic Gregor hens , whose new book Nicotine is out this week and will be reviewed here in due course his favourite German novels he wrote back .
I couldn´t give you a list of my favourite German books, but here´s a list of books that have two qualities in common, both of which I value highly: They are extremely unsettling and they are short. Best wishes – Gregor’

1. Heinrich von Kleist: Michael Kohlhaas
Kafka claims to have read it more than ten times. The powerful and radical story of a vigilante horsetrader, set in 16th-century Saxony, was the basis for E. L. Doctorow´s modern classic Ragtime.I reviewed Von Kleist  here Kohlhaas was one of the stories in that collection

2. Thomas Bernhard: Ja / Yes
The self-absorbed master of the tragicomical at his best… the title, Yes, is in anwer to the question whether the protagonist, a Persian woman, intends to kill herself. I’ve not reviewed this book by Bernhad but here is a lot Bernhard post on the blog

 

 

3. Marcus Braun: Delhi and Peter Rosei: Wer war Edgar Allen? This is a tie. Two amazing books whose plots I remember only hazily, possibly because copious amount of alcohol and heroin are consumed by their wandering, disoriented protagonists.Two titles yet to reach us in english

 

 

4. Michael Kumpfmüller: Durst / Thurst
Heart-wrenching, raw and yet subtle story of a woman who leaves her small children to die in a hot apartment. If you think you understand human behaviour – read this and think again.Michael has had another book glory of life translated My review here 

5. Angelika Klüssendorf: Das Mädchen / The Girl
Brutally straight-forward, unsentimental story of a girl who escapes from an East-German childhood of parental neglect and tyranny. Beautifully written. Should have won the German book prize for which it was short-listed.Another book to reach us .

Thanks Greogr I do hope the ones yet to be translated get translated The girl looks great and was sortlisted for German book prize .Gregors book Nicotine is out this week from Fitzcarraldo