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Dreamers When the Writers Took Power, Germany 1918

Weidermann Volker
Heftet / 2019 / Engelsk

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781782275060
Publisert
2019-11-07
Utgiver
Vendor
Pushkin Press
Høyde
198 mm
Bredde
129 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
256

Forfatter
Weidermann Volker
Oversetter
Martin, Ruth

Biographical note

The award-winning writer and literary critic Volker Weidermann was born in Germany in 1969, and studied political science and German language and literature in Heidelberg and Berlin. He is the cultural editor of Der Spiegel, and the author of Summer Before the Dark, which is also published by Pushkin Press.

Dreamers When the Writers Took Power, Germany 1918

Weidermann Volker
Heftet / 2019 / Engelsk
Weidermann Volker
Heftet / 2019 / Engelsk
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Vivid, full of sardonic humour, moral nuance and personal drama, this book takes the reader into the heart of the revolutionary crowd, and shows how exhilarating and terrifying it is to be there

- Lucy Hughes-Hallett, New Statesman

Compelling

Spectator, Books of the Year

A superb account... a remarkable cast of characters... [Weidermann] brings to life long forgotten and seemingly insignificant and quirky episodes in history

Guardian

Se alle

An absolutely gripping tale... great pace, action and character... the characters are unforgettable

The Times

Powerfully evokes the energy, confusion, farce and tragedy of the dreamers' revolution... Weidermann's great strength is his sharp prose, tempered with an eye for human detail... a convincing and compelling account

Telegraph

Dramatic... a compact and colourful account, with the breathless pace of war reporting

Spectator

A gripping account... Volker Weidermann's blend of engrossing, urgent reportage and gentle, dissociative musing will be familiar to readers of his previous work, the bestselling Summer Before the Dark... deceptively extravagant and endlessly interesting book

Financial Times

Fascinating... a vivid tale, crisply narrated, with insight and dark humour

Glasgow Herald

A wonderful account

Tatler

Weidermann's storytelling is piquant

Publishers Weekly

An historical thriller set in Munich of most exciting and finest quality

Münchener Feuilleton

The experiment does not end well, obviously. Weidermann conveys that 'Love was the dream, hate was the result'. But before that, he lets the readers once more relive the dream of a "Writers' Republic"

Der Spiegel

A damn good book, which makes it clear to us that literature and politics are not a pair of opposites, but belong together, whether you like it or not. And the book itself is a dream, because it encourages us to dream that everything could be different, that the world, despite all the disillusionment remains - and must remain - changeable

Frankfurter Allgemeine

A tremendous read; and full of stunning imagery

The Revisionist

Weidermann excels with his thrilling description of this bloodless uprising... covers a lot of ground, packing in every putsch... compelling

The National

Cleverly, effectively, with masterful panache, Weidermann pulls together the strings of past and present into a tight knot... a highly beguiling and convincing storyteller who will shock you, amaze you, stun you into both action and reaction... the perfect read for the end of 2018

Bookanista

At the end of the First World War in Germany, the journalist and theatre critic Kurt Eisner organised a revolution which overthrew the monarchy, and declared a Free State of Bavaria. In February 1919, he was assassinated, and the revolution failed. But while the dream lived, it was the writers, the poets, the playwrights and the intellectuals who led the way. As well as Eisner, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke, and many other prominent figures in German cultural history were involved. In his characteristically lucid, sharp prose, Volker Weidermann presents us with a slice of history - November 1918 to April 1919 - and shows how a small group of people could have altered the course of the twentieth century.
Les mer
Vivid, full of sardonic humour, moral nuance and personal drama, this book takes the reader into the heart of the revolutionary crowd, and shows how exhilarating and terrifying it is to be there
THE SHOT  IT HAD BEEN A FAIRY TALE , of course—nothing but a fairy tale that had become reality for a few weeks. And now it was over. It would have been ridiculous to cling to power any longer: the election results in January had been too devastating for that. Two per cent, it was a joke, a cruel, bad joke. Ever since, the press had been subjecting him not only to more of their frenzied hatred, but to mockery and scorn as well. A people’s king without a people, a jester on the king’s throne, un-Bavarian crackpot, Jewish upstart. Kurt Eisner had given up. His negotiations with his archenemy Erhard Auer, the leader of the Social Democrats, had gone on late into the night. “Negotiations” was hardly the right word. He had nothing left to bargain with. Auer had offered him the position of Ambassador to Prague; he might as well have said Consular Secretary to Australia. It was over. He’d had his chance and done what he could to transform the Kingdom of Bavaria into a people’s republic, a land of solidarity and altruism. It was a dream, to suddenly find himself sitting in the prime minister’s seat on the night of 7th November. Sometimes you just had to be quick-witted enough to recognize the moment when it arrived. And it arrived on 7th November 1918. A sunny afternoon; tens of thousands of soldiers, sailors, unionists and workers had gathered on the western slope of the Theresienwiese. The mood was tense. The Minister of the Interior, von Brettreich, had had the city plastered with posters announcing that order would be maintained. The Social Democratic Party’s Erhard Auer had given him his personal assurance of that the previous day. A revolution was not about to break out. Kurt Eisner, parliamentary candidate for the Independent Social Democrats, who had been invoking the coming revolution for days, would be “forced to the wall”, that was how Auer had put it. He said he had the situation in hand. He didn’t have anything in hand. There was chaos that afternoon: more and more people arriving; soldiers streaming in from the barracks, most of them having torn off their insignia. The men—and a few women—stood in little groups, clustering first around one speaker, then another. Auer had secured the best position for himself, on the grand steps leading up to the statue of Bavaria. But when the crowds realized he was just trying to placate them, promising them jam in some far-off tomorrow, they moved on to the other speakers further down the slope. Kurt Eisner was standing right at the bottom. He was almost yelling, waving his arms in the air. A crowd was forming around the man with the long grey hair, the pince-nez, the wild beard and the large hat. He had a good name among those who were hoping for revolution: he had organized the munition workers’ strike in January, had spent six months in prison for it. His speaking style was not particularly rousing; his voice was scratchy and high-pitched. He had some trouble making himself heard above the other speakers. But the crowd sensed that, today, this was their man. He wasn’t going to send them home. He could feel the energy of the day, the rage, the will for some decisive thing to happen at last. The king had been seen that morning taking a stroll through the English Garden. Well, how much longer did he want to go on strolling? How much longer did he want to rule?
Les mer

Relaterte produkter

Vivid, full of sardonic humour, moral nuance and personal drama, this book takes the reader into the heart of the revolutionary crowd, and shows how exhilarating and terrifying it is to be there

- Lucy Hughes-Hallett, New Statesman

Compelling

Spectator, Books of the Year

A superb account... a remarkable cast of characters... [Weidermann] brings to life long forgotten and seemingly insignificant and quirky episodes in history

Guardian

Se alle

An absolutely gripping tale... great pace, action and character... the characters are unforgettable

The Times

Powerfully evokes the energy, confusion, farce and tragedy of the dreamers' revolution... Weidermann's great strength is his sharp prose, tempered with an eye for human detail... a convincing and compelling account

Telegraph

Dramatic... a compact and colourful account, with the breathless pace of war reporting

Spectator

A gripping account... Volker Weidermann's blend of engrossing, urgent reportage and gentle, dissociative musing will be familiar to readers of his previous work, the bestselling Summer Before the Dark... deceptively extravagant and endlessly interesting book

Financial Times

Fascinating... a vivid tale, crisply narrated, with insight and dark humour

Glasgow Herald

A wonderful account

Tatler

Weidermann's storytelling is piquant

Publishers Weekly

An historical thriller set in Munich of most exciting and finest quality

Münchener Feuilleton

The experiment does not end well, obviously. Weidermann conveys that 'Love was the dream, hate was the result'. But before that, he lets the readers once more relive the dream of a "Writers' Republic"

Der Spiegel

A damn good book, which makes it clear to us that literature and politics are not a pair of opposites, but belong together, whether you like it or not. And the book itself is a dream, because it encourages us to dream that everything could be different, that the world, despite all the disillusionment remains - and must remain - changeable

Frankfurter Allgemeine

A tremendous read; and full of stunning imagery

The Revisionist

Weidermann excels with his thrilling description of this bloodless uprising... covers a lot of ground, packing in every putsch... compelling

The National

Cleverly, effectively, with masterful panache, Weidermann pulls together the strings of past and present into a tight knot... a highly beguiling and convincing storyteller who will shock you, amaze you, stun you into both action and reaction... the perfect read for the end of 2018

Bookanista

At the end of the First World War in Germany, the journalist and theatre critic Kurt Eisner organised a revolution which overthrew the monarchy, and declared a Free State of Bavaria. In February 1919, he was assassinated, and the revolution failed. But while the dream lived, it was the writers, the poets, the playwrights and the intellectuals who led the way. As well as Eisner, Thomas Mann, Rainer Maria Rilke, and many other prominent figures in German cultural history were involved. In his characteristically lucid, sharp prose, Volker Weidermann presents us with a slice of history - November 1918 to April 1919 - and shows how a small group of people could have altered the course of the twentieth century.
Les mer
Vivid, full of sardonic humour, moral nuance and personal drama, this book takes the reader into the heart of the revolutionary crowd, and shows how exhilarating and terrifying it is to be there
THE SHOT  IT HAD BEEN A FAIRY TALE , of course—nothing but a fairy tale that had become reality for a few weeks. And now it was over. It would have been ridiculous to cling to power any longer: the election results in January had been too devastating for that. Two per cent, it was a joke, a cruel, bad joke. Ever since, the press had been subjecting him not only to more of their frenzied hatred, but to mockery and scorn as well. A people’s king without a people, a jester on the king’s throne, un-Bavarian crackpot, Jewish upstart. Kurt Eisner had given up. His negotiations with his archenemy Erhard Auer, the leader of the Social Democrats, had gone on late into the night. “Negotiations” was hardly the right word. He had nothing left to bargain with. Auer had offered him the position of Ambassador to Prague; he might as well have said Consular Secretary to Australia. It was over. He’d had his chance and done what he could to transform the Kingdom of Bavaria into a people’s republic, a land of solidarity and altruism. It was a dream, to suddenly find himself sitting in the prime minister’s seat on the night of 7th November. Sometimes you just had to be quick-witted enough to recognize the moment when it arrived. And it arrived on 7th November 1918. A sunny afternoon; tens of thousands of soldiers, sailors, unionists and workers had gathered on the western slope of the Theresienwiese. The mood was tense. The Minister of the Interior, von Brettreich, had had the city plastered with posters announcing that order would be maintained. The Social Democratic Party’s Erhard Auer had given him his personal assurance of that the previous day. A revolution was not about to break out. Kurt Eisner, parliamentary candidate for the Independent Social Democrats, who had been invoking the coming revolution for days, would be “forced to the wall”, that was how Auer had put it. He said he had the situation in hand. He didn’t have anything in hand. There was chaos that afternoon: more and more people arriving; soldiers streaming in from the barracks, most of them having torn off their insignia. The men—and a few women—stood in little groups, clustering first around one speaker, then another. Auer had secured the best position for himself, on the grand steps leading up to the statue of Bavaria. But when the crowds realized he was just trying to placate them, promising them jam in some far-off tomorrow, they moved on to the other speakers further down the slope. Kurt Eisner was standing right at the bottom. He was almost yelling, waving his arms in the air. A crowd was forming around the man with the long grey hair, the pince-nez, the wild beard and the large hat. He had a good name among those who were hoping for revolution: he had organized the munition workers’ strike in January, had spent six months in prison for it. His speaking style was not particularly rousing; his voice was scratchy and high-pitched. He had some trouble making himself heard above the other speakers. But the crowd sensed that, today, this was their man. He wasn’t going to send them home. He could feel the energy of the day, the rage, the will for some decisive thing to happen at last. The king had been seen that morning taking a stroll through the English Garden. Well, how much longer did he want to go on strolling? How much longer did he want to rule?
Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781782275060
Publisert
2019-11-07
Utgiver
Vendor
Pushkin Press
Høyde
198 mm
Bredde
129 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
256

Forfatter
Weidermann Volker
Oversetter
Martin, Ruth

Biographical note

The award-winning writer and literary critic Volker Weidermann was born in Germany in 1969, and studied political science and German language and literature in Heidelberg and Berlin. He is the cultural editor of Der Spiegel, and the author of Summer Before the Dark, which is also published by Pushkin Press.

Relaterte produkter