Before Sex and the City there was Bridget Jones. And before Bridget Jones was The Artificial Silk Girl.
In 1931, a young woman writer li... read full description
In 1931, a young woman writer li... read full description
reviews
Jul 27, 2011
Tuck
rated it: 
a classic of feminist lit, from 1931 Germany!! About a strong -- if young party-hard, bad decision making -- woman who's just trying to get over (thanks every day Curtis Mayfield), and does, for the most part. Sure she has to lie some, fake organisms, cadge drinks, lift the occasional haute couture (sp?) item, work at crummy jobs for low pay, freeze her ass off in shitty apartments, have pretty bad hangovers, dance till her feet ache, hide from nazis, etc etc. all in the day of a young woman any
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May 26, 2011
Viktoria
rated it: 
das muss man einfach gelesen haben! eine bessere beschreibung des lebensgefühls der 20er jahre gibt es nicht!!!!
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Nov 01, 2007
Alison
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The translator's intro suggests that this is precursor to Bridget Jones and Sex in the City. Maybe that's in reference to the humor and to the fact that it's about a single woman having adventures with sex and fame and, uh, poverty, crime, and the rise of National Socialism in 1930s Berlin. I thought of Vanity Fair, or House of Mirth as narrated by one of the milliners at the end, because it's very much about the development of consciousness amid decay and despair, but in a funny way. Very ja
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Nov 13, 2011
Jennifer
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An extremely fast read, another one set in Berlin in the early 30s, right before the Nazi takeover. This time, however, it's written by a native German, and the writer and protagonist are female. Tatar's introduction mentions that male authors had often tried to "ventriloquize" (great term!) female characters like Doris, but that there were relatively few actually written by women, so Doris of The Artificial Silk Girl is special for that reason, if no other.
Some reviews I r More...
Some reviews I r More...
Oct 13, 2011
Friederike
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There is nothing fake or artificial about the heroine of this surprising work of fiction. First published in 1932 in Germany, it was followed very quickly by its English translation in 1933. It was an immediate hit for a young author's second novel; praised for its pointed sense of humour as well as the underlying critique of society. The story, written in the form of the central character's musings and diary, blends a young woman's daily struggles to make ends meet with an at times sarcastic ye
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Sep 11, 2011
Leah
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Why is this hailed as a window to pre-Nazi Berlin when the narrator's observations are not especially insightful, about her environs or about the times in general? Why this is hailed as feminist literature when Doris defines herself in terms of how desirable she is to men and chooses to remain blithely ignorant of the world around her unless it involves increasing her desirability and odds of finding a man to take care of her? There is validity in the comparisons to "Sex and the City"
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Sep 04, 2011
Isa
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Full disclosure: I may have accidentally stolen this book from BEA ^_^;;;;; You know in the exhibit hall publisher booths are piled high and deep with galleys for people to take for free, but as I was cracking the spine on this one I realized that I hadn't picked it up from a pile of identical copies. Oh it was a galley all right, but it was one of only a handful of copies and sometimes pubs bring these along as 'display only' samples.
So Other Press, if this gem wasn't meant to walk aw More...
So Other Press, if this gem wasn't meant to walk aw More...
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Jul 02, 2009
Carolyn
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I bought this book in the hopes of using it for a research project on narratives of female Jewish authors in Europe, but realized very quickly that it wasn't appropriate (in retrospect, I can't find any mention of Keun being Jewish online, so I'm not sure how I ended up choosing this at all). Nonetheless, it was an incredibly interesting read, written in a lighthearted style that deceptively serves to strengthen its underlying political messages about female sexual morality in the Weimar era. I
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Nov 06, 2011
Barbara
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jul 27, 2011
Nicki
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The first few pages of this book, I really struggled, trying to follow as Doris shifted from one thought to another, segueing from topic to topic with no real pause. That is why I have always had a general dislike for stream of consciousness novels.
Anyhow, I persevered and gradually found myself getting into the flow of the prose.
The story is simple enough, following Doris as she moves through a string of men and troubles in Berlin in the early 1930's. You get a great sense More...
Anyhow, I persevered and gradually found myself getting into the flow of the prose.
The story is simple enough, following Doris as she moves through a string of men and troubles in Berlin in the early 1930's. You get a great sense More...
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Aug 08, 2007
Susan
rated it:
a quick read, a faux memoir, very direct voice, a good window into 30s germany thru a working-class girl's eyes, lots of universal themes. i really enjoyed it.
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Jun 07, 2011
Monica
rated it:
Tilli says: "Men are nothing but sensual and they only want one thing." But I say: "Tilli, sometimes women too are sensual and want only one thing." And there's no difference. Because sometimes I only want to wake up with someone in the morning, all messed up from kissing and half dead and without any energy to think, but wonderfully tires and rested at the same time. But you don't have to give a hoot otherwise. And there's nothing wrong with it, because both have thMore...
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Jan 28, 2012
Dana
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My daughter took a gander and pegged the book accurately just by reading its blurbs: "Looks like The House of Mirth but in Berlin." I can't say that it has Wharton's depth, but given what ensued after 1933 Berlin's gaiety (in all senses of the word), its nihilism seems prescient at the least and brave at best. Some of the writing is very funny, and other passages, as when the protagonist describes her day to a blind WWI veteran in his bleak kitchen, are really lyrical and evocative
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Aug 31, 2011
Anne
rated it:
The first book I read in Paris! Well, actually, I started it on the plane from Iceland to Paris (or was it Washington to Iceland? I don't remember), and finished it last night in my dorm room in Paris. Yippee!
Anyway. I thought this was wonderful. I had read Keun's After Midnight and sort of enjoyed it, but it wasn't nearly as decadent and madcap as this one. Of course, parts of this were deadly serious, and running throughout the whole thing was a kind of desperation on Doris' pa More...
Anyway. I thought this was wonderful. I had read Keun's After Midnight and sort of enjoyed it, but it wasn't nearly as decadent and madcap as this one. Of course, parts of this were deadly serious, and running throughout the whole thing was a kind of desperation on Doris' pa More...
Aug 31, 2011
Solyndra
rated it:
Das Kunstseidene Mädchen (The Artificial Silk Girl) is a book by Irmgard Keun, written in the time of the Weimarer Republik (pre-Nazi Germany). The book is a diary of sorts, without the "Dear diary" sentences. This is just Doris writing what she wants whenever she wants.
Doris is an interesting character. She's living in a middle-large city and bored to death by her job. She describes herself as not that pretty, but she must have been interesting enough, because many men see More...
Doris is an interesting character. She's living in a middle-large city and bored to death by her job. She describes herself as not that pretty, but she must have been interesting enough, because many men see More...
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May 26, 2011
rachael
rated it:
this is the most recent book i have read in german. the main character, a young woman who moves to the big city (berlin) to become a "star", is totally entertaining and engaging right from the start. she is cocky and naive, confident and unsure, clever and ignorant all at the same time. the book is set in a time when life and culture are booming in the bigger cities after world war one and the main character thinks the world is her oyster. of course in berlin, she is met with some rude
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Jan 25, 2010
Elizabeth
rated it:
“Me—and my fur coat who is with me—my skin gets all tense with the desire that someone finds me attractive in my fur, and I find him attractive as well. I’m sitting in a cafe—violins are playing, sending a waft of weepy clouds into my head—something’s crying in me—I want to bury my face in my hands to make it less sad. It has to work so hard, because I’m trying to be a star. And there are women all over the place whose faces are also trying hard.”
doris is a girl trying to make sense More...
doris is a girl trying to make sense More...
Jun 29, 2008
Arklarka
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Keun je nemecka autorka zijici v Koline, zidovka. pritelkyne kische, zweiga , thomasse manna. ziskala popularitu ve 30. letech, pak byly jeji knihy nacisty zakazany, skryvala se za valky v nemecku. po valce problemy s alkoholem, rozbity dum, zivorila, do leceben, jiz nikdy neziskala vetsi slavu. zemrela 1982. cely zivot byla velmi sarmantni, temperamentni, idol muzu.
autobiograficke prvky v romanu kunstseidenes maedchen. hlavni hrdninkou je doris, to co cteme je jeji dennik psany v ich form More...
autobiograficke prvky v romanu kunstseidenes maedchen. hlavni hrdninkou je doris, to co cteme je jeji dennik psany v ich form More...
May 26, 2011
Keun je nemecka autorka zijici v Koline, zidovka. pritelkyne kische, zweiga , thomasse manna. ziskala popularitu ve 30. letech, pak byly jeji knihy nacisty zakazany, skryvala se za valky v nemecku. po valce problemy s alkoholem, rozbity dum, zivorila, do leceben, jiz nikdy neziskala vetsi slavu. zemrela 1982. cely zivot byla velmi sarmantni, temperamentni, idol muzu.
autobiograficke prvky v romanu kunstseidenes maedchen. hlavni hrdninkou je doris, to co cteme je jeji dennik psany v ich form More...
autobiograficke prvky v romanu kunstseidenes maedchen. hlavni hrdninkou je doris, to co cteme je jeji dennik psany v ich form More...
Jun 19, 2009
Katie
rated it:
This is an excellent example of life in Berlin in the Weimar Republic. There were a lot of social and artistic freedoms. About a year after its publication, the Nazis took power and banned the book (along with many, many more). It was too liberated, too anti-authoritative. And it never really caught on again after WWII. It's an excellent book, especially if you like that time period.
Mar 02, 2009
Erica
rated it:
An edgy, youthful tale of a young, ambitious, naive girl in pre-Hitler Berlin. Quite poetic, almost abstract in its language at times. It shows how quickly one can slide into desperation and prostitution when you are alone in the world. This reads as though it were written in 1992, not 1932.
Dec 31, 2011
James
rated it:
Irmgard Keun's beautiful novel of working class women in the 1930s is a comic and realistic account. A young girl goes to Berlin to make her way and finds life difficult. The story's realism makes the protagonist more sympathetic in her struggles with life. While a distant relative of Dreiser's Carrie this story reminded me more of the Berlin of Alfred Doblin in the sense that we see people whose lives are on the edge during a time of dramatic change. In many ways this is a miniature version o
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Sep 22, 2011
Laura
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I wish I'd read this book when I was 18. Things haven't changed all that much. In our culture, I'm afraid, much of what many young women think they want--"fame," "creativity"--is actually a pathway to passive subserviance and economic disadvantage. Uplifting thought, isn't it.
Sep 29, 2011
Matthew
rated it:
So far so good, reading it auf Deutsch, quite a breathtaking journey through early Weimar life through the diary of let's just say a German version of Carrie Bradshaw :P
Dec 27, 2011
compared to Isherwood's Berlin Stories, suppressed / destroyed by the Nazis, and recently republished in a new translation by Other Press? YESSSSSS
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