Berlin Tales

Berlin Tales is a collection of seventeen translated stories associated with Berlin. The book provides a unique insight into the mind of this fascinating city through the eyes of its story-tellers. Nearly twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the stories collected here reflect on the city's fascinating recent history, setting out with the early twentieth-century Berlin of Siegfried Kracauer and Alfred Döblin and culminating in an excellent selection of stories from the best of the new voices in the current boom in German fiction. They are chosen for their conscious exploration of the city's image, meaning, and attraction to immigrants and tourists as well as Berliners from both sides of the Wall. These stories also depict Berlin's distinct districts, not just the differences between East and West but also iconic sites such as Alexanderplatz, individual neighbourhoods (Jewish Mitte, Turkish Kreuzberg) and individual streets. There is an introduction and notes to accompany the stories and a selection of Further Reading. Each story is illustrated with a striking photograph and there is a map of Berlin and its transport system (a frequent motif). There is an introduction and notes to accompany the stories and a selection of Further Reading. The book will appeal to people who love travelling or are armchair travellers, as much as to those who love Berlin.

Lyn Marven is a Lecturer in German at the University of Liverpool; she researches and translates contemporary literature, with a particular interest in Berlin. She obtained her DPhil from Oxford University, and taught there and at Manchester University, as well as living for a time in Berlin. Helen Constantine is editor of the magazine Modern Poetry in Translation and the editor and translator of Paris Tales and French Tales.

- Introduction - 1: Siegfried Kracauer: 'Aus dem Fenster gesehen' (Seen From the Window) - 2: Alfred Döblin: 'Östlich um den Alexanderplatz' (East of Alexanderplatz) - 3: Franz Hessel: excerpt from 'Spazieren in Berlin' (A Flaneur in Berlin) - 4: Max Frisch: 'Berlin, November 1947' - 5: Uwe Johnson: 'Berliner Stadtbahn' (Berlin S-Bahn) - 6: Günter Kunert: 'Alltägliche Geschichte einer Berliner Straße' (Everyday Story of a Berlin Street) - 7: Günter de Bruyn: 'Berlin, Große Hamburger' (Große Hamburger Street) - 8: Monika Maron: 'Geburtsort Berlin' (Place of Birth: Berlin) - 9: Emine Sevgi Özdamar: 'Mein Berlin' (My Berlin) - 10: Durs Grünbein: 'Sommerzeit' (Summertime) - 11: Inka Bach: 'Besetzer' (Squatters) - 12: Annett Gröschner: 'Rest Esplanade' (The Remains of the Hotel Esplanade) - 13: Fridolin Schley: 'Das Herz der Republik' (The Heart of the Republic) - 14: Carmen Francesca Banciu: 'Berlin ist mein Paris' (Berlin is my Paris) - 15: Katrin Röggla: 'fraktionen' (factions) - 16: Wladimir Kaminer: 'Stadtführer Berlin' (Berlin Guide) - 17: Ulrike Draesner: 'Gina Regina'