Best of
German-Literature

1978

Darkness Spoken: The Collected Poems of Ingeborg Bachmann


Ingeborg Bachmann - 1978
    Bachmann is considered one of the most important poets to emerge in postwar German letters, and this volume represents the largest collection available in English translation. Influencing numerous writers from Thomas Bernhard to Christa Wolf to Elfriede Jelinek (winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Literature), Bachmann’s poetic investigation into the nature and limits of language in the face of historical violence remains unmatched in its ability to combine philosophical insight with haunting lyricism.Bachmann was born in 1926 in Klagenfurt, Austria. She studied philosophy at the universities of Innsbruck, Graz, and Vienna. In 1953 she received the poetry prize from Gruppe 47 for her first volume, Borrowed Time (Die gestundete Zeit). Her second collection, Invocation of the Great Bear (Anrufung des großen Bären), appeared in 1956. Her various awards include the Georg Büchner Prize, the Berlin Critics Prize, the Bremen Award, and the Austrian State Prize for Literature. Writing and publishing essays, opera libretti, short stories, and novels as well, she divided her time between Munich, Zurich, Berlin, and Rome, where she died from a fire in her apartment in 1973.Peter Filkins has published two volumes of poetry, What She Knew (1998) and After Homer (2002), and has translated Bachmann’s The Book of Franza and Requiem for Fanny Goldmann. He is the recipient of an Outstanding Translation Award from the American Literary Translators Association and the Berlin Prize from the American Academy in Berlin. He teaches at Simon’s Rock College of Bard in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Yes


Thomas Bernhard - 1978
    For the scientist, his endless talks with the strange Asian woman mean release from his condition, but for the Persian woman, as her own circumstances deteriorate, there is only one answer."Thomas Bernhard was one of the few major writers of the second half of this century."--Gabriel Josipovici, Independent"With his death, European letters lost one of its most perceptive, uncompromising voices since the war."--SpectatorWidely acclaimed as a novelist, playwright, and poet, Thomas Bernhard (1931-89) won many of the most prestigious literary prizes of Europe, including the Austrian State Prize, the Bremen and Brüchner prizes, and Le Prix Séguier.

Graded German Reader: Erste Stufe


Hannelore Crossgrove - 1978
    The first five sections were written or edited specifically for the text, while authentic material is presented in a concluding short story by Doris Dorrie. Features include frequent use of cognates and basic vocabulary; exercises in reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and word-building techniques; graded readings; and footnotes throughout the text along with a verb appendix and index of exercises.

To Kill Hitler: Plots on the Führer’s Life


Herbert Molloy Mason - 1978
     It was the period of the “good” German, going along with the regime, controlled by the strident coercion of state propaganda or the brutality of the SS, overcome by lethargy or convinced that Hitler and his juggernaut were Germany’s destiny. But not all Germans. A few belonged, in the words of Winston Churchill, to the “greatest and most noble group in the political history of our times”. This is the story of these few who tried, by their own hand, to change the course of history by assassinating Hitler. Beginning in 1938, with a kidnap plan by General Ludwig Beck and Colonel Hans Oster, one desperate attempt followed another. At first, the motivation was to prevent the outbreak of another world war, later to stave off the ruination of Germany, and finally to salvage what little was left of personal honour. The would-be assassins included Wehrmacht officers, hardened company commanders led by Captain Freiherr Georg von Boeselager, noblemen such as Count Claus von Stauffenberg, a meek cabinetmaker, the patient Georg Elser, and Maurice Bavard, a drop-out from a French seminary. As one failure followed another — sometimes because of technical malfunctions, more often because of Hitler’s legendary animal instinct for danger — new assassins arose, driven to try again. In To Kill Hitler Herbert Molloy Mason investigates what it was that drove the would-be assassins on. His minute-by-minute descriptions of how they stalked the world’s biggest game make gripping reading, as events move inexorably from the first sparks of resistance to the Götterdämmerung of 1944 and 1945, when Hitler exacted his terrible revenge. Herbert Molloy Mason (1927-2013) was a noted writer of military history, and has written sixteen books, including The Lafayette Escadrille and The Rise of the Luftwaffe. He lived in San Antonio, Texas with his wife who was an artist.

Hitler: The Pictorial Documentary of His Life


John Toland - 1978
    Pictorial overview of the life and times of German dictator Adolf Hitler.