Irmgard Keun

This enthralling tale of a "material girl" in 1930s Berlin is the masterpiece of a literary icon, rediscovered and restored to the same heights as such luminaries as Isherwood and Brecht. In 1931 a young woman writer living in Germany penned her answer to Anita Loos's Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the era of cinematic glamour: The Artificial Silk Girl. Though a Nazi censorship board banned Irmgard Keun's work in 1933 and destroyed all existing copies, the novel survived, as fresh and relevant today as the day it was written. The Artificial Silk Girl is the story of Doris, beautiful and striving, who vows to write down all that happens to her as the star of her own life story. But instead of scripting what she hopes will be a quick rise to fame and fortune as either an actress or the mistress/wife of a wealthy man, she describes a slow descent into near prostitution and homelessness. Prewar Berlin is not the dazzling and exciting city of promise it seems; Doris unwittingly reveals a bleak, seamy urban landscape.

90 Classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin BooksArrested in Cologne for remarking that the Fuhrer looked sweaty, nineteen-year-old Sanna has fled to Frankfurt. But her troubles are far from over. Her best friend Gerti has fallen for a Jewish boy, her brother writes books that have been blacklisted, and her own aunt could turn her in to the authorities at any moment. Darkly humorous and utterly heart rending, this gripping novel vividly captures the terror and hysteria of pre-war Nazi Germany.

För första gången på svenska, i översättning av Martin Lagerholm, kommer nu Irmgard Keuns klassiker Barn utan land. Romanen handlar om Kully, en tioårig flicka som tillsammans med sina föräldrar lever i exil och reser runt i Europa under 1930-talet. Hennes far är författare och har lämnat Nazityskland för att undkomma förföljelse. Den lilla familjen lever ett osäkert liv, ständigt på flykt från land till land, och deras ekonomiska situation är svår. Pappan är ofta frånvarande medan mamman förtvivlat försöker hålla ihop världen för Kully. Historien berättas genom Kullys ögon, vilket ger en kontrast till den politiska oron och de vuxnas svårigheter. I en skarp och känslig, men samtidigt okonstlad och naiv berättarstil utforskar romanen teman som rotlöshet, barndom i kris, hur exilen påverkar individens identitet och ger en djup inblick i emigranters situation i Europa. Barn utan land (Kind aller länder) gavs ut i Amsterdam första gången 1938. Irmgard Keun var redan en bästsäljande författare när hennes böcker förbjöds i Tyskland. Hon gick i exil i Oostende, där hon bland annat skrev Barn utan land. IRMGARD KEUN född 1905 i Berlin, död 1982 i Köln, var en tysk författare och journalist med anknytning till den litterära expressionismen. Hon debuterade 1931 med romanen Gilgi-eine von uns som även filmatiserades. 1933 förbjöds hon av det kulturpolitiska organet Reichskulturkammer att publicera sina böcker och 1936 emigrerade hon till Belgien och senare Nederländerna. 1940 återvände hon illegalt till Tyskland och efter 1945 arbetade hon som journalist. Hennes böcker glömdes bort men återupptäcktes på 1970-talet. Det här är jättebra, det är gripande men med humorMonica Lindgren, Go'kväll

'A great writer' Ali SmithNewly translated by Michael Hofmann, the touching final novel from the author of Child of All Nations'I don't think I'm that unusual, and I don't think I'm crazy either'Bombed-out Cologne after the war is a strange place to be. The black market in jam and corsets is booming, half-destroyed houses offer opportunities for stealing doors and eggcups, and de-Nazification parties are all the rage. Ferdinand - daydreamer, former prisoner of war, wearer of a curious jerkin - drifts around the city, observing life's absurdities, strenuously avoiding his fiancée and drinking brandy with his fabulous cousin. When he gets a job as a 'cheerful adviser' to those down on their luck, will Ferdinand's fortunes change too? Irmgard Keun's exuberantly funny and touching final novel takes the tiny moments of triumph and defeat in one man's life, and turns them into a moving portrait of the human spirit.

The last novel from the acclaimed author of The Artificial Silk Girl, this 1950 classic paints a delightfully shrewd portrait of postwar German society. Upon his release from a prisoner-of-war camp, Ferdinand Timpe returns somewhat uneasily to civilian life in Cologne. Having survived against the odds, he is now faced with a very different sort of dilemma: How to get rid of his fianc e? Although he certainly doesn't love the mild-mannered Luise, Ferdinand is too considerate to break off the engagement himself, so he sets about finding her a suitable replacement husband--no easy task given Luise's high standards and those of her father, formerly a proud middle-ranking Nazi official. Featuring a lively cast of characters--from Ferdinand's unscrupulous landlady with her black-market schemes to his beguiling cousin Johanna and the many loves of her life--Ferdinand captures a distinct moment in Germany's history, when its people were coming to terms with World War II and searching for a way forward. In Irmgard Keun's effervescent prose, the story feels remarkably modern.

Depicting a young woman's life in Nazi Germany, a masterpiece from the author of Child of All Nations'I cannot think of anything else that conjures up so powerfully the atmosphere of a nation turned insane' Sunday TelegraphNineteen-year-old Sanna just wants to drink her beer in peace, but that's difficult when Hitler has come to town and his motorcade is blocking the streets of Frankfurt. What's more, her best friend Gerti is in love with a Jewish boy, her brother writes books that have been blacklisted and her own aunt may denounce her to the authorities at any moment, as Germany teeters on the edge of the abyss. Written after she had fled the Nazi regime, Irmgard Keun's masterly novel captures the feverish hysteria and horror of the era with devastating perceptiveness and humour. Translated by Anthea Bell