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Der eiserne Gustav #1-2
Железный Густав
Ганс Фаллада (1893-1947) вошел в историю немецкой и мировой литературы как один из крупнейших критических реалистов 20 века, создатель значительных, исполненных печали и острой жалости к людям произведений, посвященных жизни низших слоев немецкого общества.
Роман "Железный Густав" (1938) – наиболее известное произведение писателя – посвящен судьбе "последнего берлинского извозчика" Густава Хакендаля и его детей.
Роман "Железный Густав" (1938) – наиболее известное произведение писателя – посвящен судьбе "последнего берлинского извозчика" Густава Хакендаля и его детей.
752 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1938
40 people are currently reading
841 people want to read
About the author
Hans Fallada
219 books769 followersHans Fallada, born Rudolf Wilhelm Adolf Ditzen in Greifswald, was one of the most famous German writers of the 20th century. His novel, Little Man, What Now? is generally considered his most famous work and is a classic of German literature. Fallada's pseudonym derives from a combination of characters found in the Grimm fairy tales: The protagonist of Lucky Hans and a horse named Falada in The Goose Girl.
He was the child of a magistrate on his way to becoming a supreme court judge and a mother from a middle-class background, both of whom shared an enthusiasm for music and to a lesser extent, literature. Jenny Williams notes in her biography, More Lives than One that Fallada's father would often read aloud to his children the works authors including Shakespeare and Schiller (Williams, 5).
In 1899 when Fallada was 6, his father relocated the family to Berlin following the first of several promotions he would receive. Fallada had a very difficult time upon first entering school in 1901. As a result, he immersed himself in books, eschewing literature more in line with his age for authors including Flaubert, Dostoyevsky, and Dickens. In 1909 the family relocated to Leipzig following his father's appointment to the Imperial Supreme Court.
A rather severe road accident in 1909 (he was run over by a horse-drawn cart, then kicked in the face by the horse) and the contraction of typhoid in 1910 seem to mark a turning point in Fallada's life and the end of his relatively care-free youth. His adolescent years were characterized by increasing isolation and self-doubt, compounded by the lingering effects of these ailments. In addition, his life-long drug problems were born of the pain-killing medications he was taking as the result of his injuries. These issues manifested themselves in multiple suicide attempts. In 1911 he made a pact with his close friend, Hanns Dietrich, to stage a duel to mask their suicides, feeling that the duel would be seen as more honorable. Because of both boys' inexperience with weapons, it was a bungled affair. Dietrich missed Fallada, but Fallada did not miss Dietrich, killing him. Fallada was so distraught that he picked up Dietrich's gun and shot himself in the chest, but miraculously survived. Nonetheless, the death of his friend ensured his status as an outcast from society. Although he was found innocent of murder by way of insanity, from this point on he would serve multiple stints in mental institutions. At one of these institutions, he was assigned to work in a farmyard, thus beginning his lifelong affinity for farm culture.
While in a sanatorium, Fallada took to translation and poetry, albeit unsuccessfully, before finally breaking ground as a novelist in 1920 with the publication of his first book Young Goedeschal. During this period he also struggled with morphine addiction, and the death of his younger brother in the first World War.
In the wake of the war, Fallada worked several farmhand and other agricultural jobs in order to support himself and finance his growing drug addictions. Before the war, Fallada relied on his father for financial support while writing; after the German defeat he was no longer able, nor willing, to depend on his father's assistance. Shortly after the publication of Anton and Gerda, Fallada reported to prison in Greiswald to serve a 6-month sentence for stealing grain from his employer and selling it to support his drug habit. Less than 3 years later, in 1926, Fallada again found himself imprisoned as a result of a drug and alcohol-fueled string of thefts from employers. In February 1928 he finally emerged free of addiction.
Fallada married Suse Issel in 1929 and maintained a string of respectable jobs in journalism, working for newspapers and eventually for the publisher of his novels, Rowohlt. It is around this time that his novels became noticeably political and started to comment
He was the child of a magistrate on his way to becoming a supreme court judge and a mother from a middle-class background, both of whom shared an enthusiasm for music and to a lesser extent, literature. Jenny Williams notes in her biography, More Lives than One that Fallada's father would often read aloud to his children the works authors including Shakespeare and Schiller (Williams, 5).
In 1899 when Fallada was 6, his father relocated the family to Berlin following the first of several promotions he would receive. Fallada had a very difficult time upon first entering school in 1901. As a result, he immersed himself in books, eschewing literature more in line with his age for authors including Flaubert, Dostoyevsky, and Dickens. In 1909 the family relocated to Leipzig following his father's appointment to the Imperial Supreme Court.
A rather severe road accident in 1909 (he was run over by a horse-drawn cart, then kicked in the face by the horse) and the contraction of typhoid in 1910 seem to mark a turning point in Fallada's life and the end of his relatively care-free youth. His adolescent years were characterized by increasing isolation and self-doubt, compounded by the lingering effects of these ailments. In addition, his life-long drug problems were born of the pain-killing medications he was taking as the result of his injuries. These issues manifested themselves in multiple suicide attempts. In 1911 he made a pact with his close friend, Hanns Dietrich, to stage a duel to mask their suicides, feeling that the duel would be seen as more honorable. Because of both boys' inexperience with weapons, it was a bungled affair. Dietrich missed Fallada, but Fallada did not miss Dietrich, killing him. Fallada was so distraught that he picked up Dietrich's gun and shot himself in the chest, but miraculously survived. Nonetheless, the death of his friend ensured his status as an outcast from society. Although he was found innocent of murder by way of insanity, from this point on he would serve multiple stints in mental institutions. At one of these institutions, he was assigned to work in a farmyard, thus beginning his lifelong affinity for farm culture.
While in a sanatorium, Fallada took to translation and poetry, albeit unsuccessfully, before finally breaking ground as a novelist in 1920 with the publication of his first book Young Goedeschal. During this period he also struggled with morphine addiction, and the death of his younger brother in the first World War.
In the wake of the war, Fallada worked several farmhand and other agricultural jobs in order to support himself and finance his growing drug addictions. Before the war, Fallada relied on his father for financial support while writing; after the German defeat he was no longer able, nor willing, to depend on his father's assistance. Shortly after the publication of Anton and Gerda, Fallada reported to prison in Greiswald to serve a 6-month sentence for stealing grain from his employer and selling it to support his drug habit. Less than 3 years later, in 1926, Fallada again found himself imprisoned as a result of a drug and alcohol-fueled string of thefts from employers. In February 1928 he finally emerged free of addiction.
Fallada married Suse Issel in 1929 and maintained a string of respectable jobs in journalism, working for newspapers and eventually for the publisher of his novels, Rowohlt. It is around this time that his novels became noticeably political and started to comment
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
March 28, 2021
The history of the publication of Iron Gustav is nearly as interesting as its plot. Fallada wrote the book in the 30s after the Nazis ascended to power, which meant that he had to fend off both censorship and the tasteless hand of Joseph Goebbels who wanted to turn the book into an apology of the new regime. Fallada eventually gave way, rewriting passages according to the whims of the propaganda ruffian. In 1946, Fallada admitted he made these changes out of fear, and they weighed on his mind. The Penguin edition keeps the original text as Fallada would’ve intended.
The novel tells us of a Berlin Family who becomes morally and financially impoverished after WWI. The implication is that the strictness of the father didn’t allow the children to mature naturally, stifling them rather than teaching them how to deal with their problems. Only the older son who died in the war and the youngest who grew up in a poverty-stricken Germany managed to escape this fate of moral ruin – one by dying, the other by starving. Of course, being a 20th century European Novel, one cannot attribute the characters’ failings only to their father. The indictment, interestingly enough, is not of post war society with its dissipation and vice, but rather of Imperial Germany and its many delusions.
The novel doesn’t really have a main character. Otto, Gustav’s oldest son, is prominent in the first third of the novel and Heinz, the youngest, in the last third. In the middle we get bits about Gustav and the other children who are little more than stereotypical weaklings. It is fairly obvious that Fallada struggled with the novel. Its structure is loose and it lacks focus at times. However, it remains a wonderful portrayal of a time in history. The cliché would be to say that it explains the emergence of Nazism; but it does, especially in the deprivation everyone faced, something that did not even spare the richest.
My four stars are for the ending, which I thought very moving and a real call for European reconciliation, for a future that was possible without hatred, borders, and wars. Fallada was right, it is possible. No wonder the Nazis didn’t like it.
The novel tells us of a Berlin Family who becomes morally and financially impoverished after WWI. The implication is that the strictness of the father didn’t allow the children to mature naturally, stifling them rather than teaching them how to deal with their problems. Only the older son who died in the war and the youngest who grew up in a poverty-stricken Germany managed to escape this fate of moral ruin – one by dying, the other by starving. Of course, being a 20th century European Novel, one cannot attribute the characters’ failings only to their father. The indictment, interestingly enough, is not of post war society with its dissipation and vice, but rather of Imperial Germany and its many delusions.
The novel doesn’t really have a main character. Otto, Gustav’s oldest son, is prominent in the first third of the novel and Heinz, the youngest, in the last third. In the middle we get bits about Gustav and the other children who are little more than stereotypical weaklings. It is fairly obvious that Fallada struggled with the novel. Its structure is loose and it lacks focus at times. However, it remains a wonderful portrayal of a time in history. The cliché would be to say that it explains the emergence of Nazism; but it does, especially in the deprivation everyone faced, something that did not even spare the richest.
My four stars are for the ending, which I thought very moving and a real call for European reconciliation, for a future that was possible without hatred, borders, and wars. Fallada was right, it is possible. No wonder the Nazis didn’t like it.
February 23, 2019
Foreword, by Jenny Williams
Note on the Translation
--Iron Gustav: A Berlin Family Chronicle
Note on the Translation
--Iron Gustav: A Berlin Family Chronicle
April 11, 2015
This novel, a monster at nearly 600 pages of closely packed typeface, is the first complete translation of Hans Fallada's 1938 work. I bought it having enjoyed 'Alone in Berlin' a couple of years ago, and also because it was lauded by the Irish Times last year as possibly the best novel ever written. While I think that is a massive overstatement, it is a compelling read.
The intro to the book tells an interesting story. Firstly, Gustav Hackendahl, the 'Iron Gustav' of the novel is based on a real person who, like the character in the book does in the final section, rode his horse drawn cab from Berlin to Paris and back to great acclaim. Secondly, the novel was written as a commission from a film company, who aimed to turn the book into a movie, which accounts for its dialogue heavy prose and episodic form. Thirdly, once delivered, Goebbels got involved in the project and 'encouraged' Fallada (who spent time in prison for expressing anti Nazi sentiment during the war) to have his main characters join the Nazi party and espouse their values.
There is no mention of the Nazis here-this is the original manuscript-but what Fallada does excellently, through Gustav, his wife and five children, sons Otto, Erich and Heinz, and daughters Sophie and Eva, as well as an array of colourful side characters, is to paint a sweeping and intricate portrait of Berlin, both socially and politically, from 1914 right through to the 1930s. We get the excitement pre war, quickly followed by the grim reality of it and the chaos then peace that follows, we get the effects of hyper inflation and unemployment, and see how the exploited and exploiters coped with events. The characters are in some cases Dickensian, which works really well, some featuring throughout, others appearing periodically, the one thing unchanged in the face of everything, the stubborn Gustav himself.
I have to admit that the size of the book did intimidate me, and I read it over 6 days while off work, but have to say that once sat down with it, I was always quickly engrossed. As in Alone in Berlin, Fallada does an amazing job in recreating a place in time, no mean feat considering the scope of the novel, and I always felt engaged with the characters. In fact the one event that I thought the least likely, the cab journey to Paris, was the one which of course was true.
It may have taken over 70 years to see the book in translation for the first time, and it may be an exaggeration to say that it's the best novel ever written, but if you've time to sit down with a 600 page book set in early 20th century Berlin, this is definitely a book that I'd recommend.
Now I think I'll have a look on my shelves for a nice novella to read... :)
The intro to the book tells an interesting story. Firstly, Gustav Hackendahl, the 'Iron Gustav' of the novel is based on a real person who, like the character in the book does in the final section, rode his horse drawn cab from Berlin to Paris and back to great acclaim. Secondly, the novel was written as a commission from a film company, who aimed to turn the book into a movie, which accounts for its dialogue heavy prose and episodic form. Thirdly, once delivered, Goebbels got involved in the project and 'encouraged' Fallada (who spent time in prison for expressing anti Nazi sentiment during the war) to have his main characters join the Nazi party and espouse their values.
There is no mention of the Nazis here-this is the original manuscript-but what Fallada does excellently, through Gustav, his wife and five children, sons Otto, Erich and Heinz, and daughters Sophie and Eva, as well as an array of colourful side characters, is to paint a sweeping and intricate portrait of Berlin, both socially and politically, from 1914 right through to the 1930s. We get the excitement pre war, quickly followed by the grim reality of it and the chaos then peace that follows, we get the effects of hyper inflation and unemployment, and see how the exploited and exploiters coped with events. The characters are in some cases Dickensian, which works really well, some featuring throughout, others appearing periodically, the one thing unchanged in the face of everything, the stubborn Gustav himself.
I have to admit that the size of the book did intimidate me, and I read it over 6 days while off work, but have to say that once sat down with it, I was always quickly engrossed. As in Alone in Berlin, Fallada does an amazing job in recreating a place in time, no mean feat considering the scope of the novel, and I always felt engaged with the characters. In fact the one event that I thought the least likely, the cab journey to Paris, was the one which of course was true.
It may have taken over 70 years to see the book in translation for the first time, and it may be an exaggeration to say that it's the best novel ever written, but if you've time to sit down with a 600 page book set in early 20th century Berlin, this is definitely a book that I'd recommend.
Now I think I'll have a look on my shelves for a nice novella to read... :)
July 31, 2016
Es kostet mich stets Überwindung ein Buch von über 400 Seiten zu beginnen. Doch Hans Fallada hat mich auch zum dritten Male nicht enttäuscht. Er beherrschte das Handwerk der Erzählkunst wie kein anderer. Mich beeindruckt immer wieder, in welcher gekonnter Weise er jeder einzelnen Figur in seiner Erzählung eine menschliche Tiefe verleiht und mag ihr Auftreten noch so kurz sein. Er verliert sich nie in dutzenden Sätzen oder gar Seiten, um Orte, Plätze wie Landschaften zu beschreiben. Stets fasst er sich kurz und bringt mit wenigen Worten Leben in eine Person, in eine Situation, ja sogar in eine Großstadt wie Berlin. Er schreibt für den einfachen Mann. Er legt Wert auf würzige und dennoch einfache Dialoge, einer sinnigen Handlung mit erkennbaren roten Faden und einer Dramaturgie, die überrascht, überzeugt und süchtig macht. Soviel Lobesrede allein schon auf seine Technik.
Jedoch überzeugte mich erneut der pikante Inhalt, den er wählte. Ich habe bislang kein besseres Buch gelesen, das derart zeitgetreu und echt das Lebensgefühl der Deutschen, insbesondere der Berliner, in den Jahren 1914 bis 1924 nachzeichnet. Der Leser begleitet in jener politisch wie gesellschaftlich ereignisreichen Zeit die Familie des Droschkenkutschers Gustav Hackendahl. Durch ihn und seine Kinder erleben wir den Jubel der ersten Kriegstage, die bald anschließende Ernüchterung, die tägliche Sorge um Angehörige an der Front, die Niederlage, die politische Aufbruchstimmung, Werteverfall des Geldes aber auch der Jugend, Arbeitslosigkeit, Schieberei, Betrug, Prostitution, Hungersnot und der alltägliche Kampf ums Überleben. Und dennoch gelang es Fallada trotz der kummervollen Lebenumstände seinem Buch einen zweckoptimistischen Anstrich mit humorvollen Nuancen zu verleihen.
So störte am Ende auch überhaupt nicht mehr, dass ich mir das Buch in dem Glauben zugelegt hatte, eine ähnliche Geschichte wie in der Verfilmung "Der eiserner Gustav" mit Heinz Rühmann vorzufinden. Gustavs Drosckenfahrt nach Paris, die wirklich stattfand, bildet nur das große Finale dieses großen Romans. Zum Glück! Denn die Vorgeschichte verleiht dem Ganzen die wahre Würze! Ein wirkliches Meisterwerk!
Jedoch überzeugte mich erneut der pikante Inhalt, den er wählte. Ich habe bislang kein besseres Buch gelesen, das derart zeitgetreu und echt das Lebensgefühl der Deutschen, insbesondere der Berliner, in den Jahren 1914 bis 1924 nachzeichnet. Der Leser begleitet in jener politisch wie gesellschaftlich ereignisreichen Zeit die Familie des Droschkenkutschers Gustav Hackendahl. Durch ihn und seine Kinder erleben wir den Jubel der ersten Kriegstage, die bald anschließende Ernüchterung, die tägliche Sorge um Angehörige an der Front, die Niederlage, die politische Aufbruchstimmung, Werteverfall des Geldes aber auch der Jugend, Arbeitslosigkeit, Schieberei, Betrug, Prostitution, Hungersnot und der alltägliche Kampf ums Überleben. Und dennoch gelang es Fallada trotz der kummervollen Lebenumstände seinem Buch einen zweckoptimistischen Anstrich mit humorvollen Nuancen zu verleihen.
So störte am Ende auch überhaupt nicht mehr, dass ich mir das Buch in dem Glauben zugelegt hatte, eine ähnliche Geschichte wie in der Verfilmung "Der eiserner Gustav" mit Heinz Rühmann vorzufinden. Gustavs Drosckenfahrt nach Paris, die wirklich stattfand, bildet nur das große Finale dieses großen Romans. Zum Glück! Denn die Vorgeschichte verleiht dem Ganzen die wahre Würze! Ein wirkliches Meisterwerk!
July 13, 2015
I love every one of Hans Fallada's novels and this was a joy to read, but I hesitate to write a review, because it is so hard to convey the magical way in which he takes such ordinary and difficult lives, in such a dark and perilous period of German history, and somehow makes them sparkle. This novel announces quite early that life is hard and that often, the very act of doing what seems to us to be right can lead us into the horrible consequences of being wrong. He follows the moral choices made by each of the children raised by Gustave and describes Gustave's response to the way they each turn out. We are invited to place the responsibility - and therefore the blame - on Gustave and the excessively strict and harsh way he treated them as children and young adults. But we also observe how Gustave himself adjusts to the twists of fate in his own life, his loyalty to his wife, his capacity for love. "Even though ninety-nine of his plans had miscarried, the hundredth might still succeed. We travel. We laugh. We never give up hoping. Maybe we will fall into the mud one day but we don't have to stay there. We mustn't give up if we do fall. On we must go." Is there a trace of Samuel Beckett in such sentiments? Gustave is difficult to like but it is hard not to respect him by the close of this book.
A remark made about Gustave himself late in the book might possibly offer some justification for his record, or at least transfer some blame from him to his children for their own choices in life: " ...things - whether small or big - are not achieved because of the belief others have in us, but only because of the belief we have in ourselves." It sounds wise but then again, on reflection, we have to wonder where does that belief in ourselves come from? As a minimum, looking back over the lives of the different children, we have to concede that each, from much the same type of childhood, made dramatically different choices. There was nothing fully determined in their lives.
If Gustave cannot be blamed for all that transpires for his children, then we are obliged to look elsewhere for explanations. We are told repeatedly that the story is about the lives of real "Berliners"; maybe there is a message in this concept and we really are intended to see this family as a comment on their social, economic and political environment. Knowing that he had no less a critic than Joseph Goebbels looking over his work, and writing in the totalitarian Germany of 1938, whatever Hans Fallada wrote was always going to be coded. His ambiguity had indeed confused politicians sufficiently for him to be allowed to write. The truth is that the choices facing this generation of Berliners were harsh and restricted. The moral compass to which they were trained was seriously defective in the best cases and perverse in the worst. Hans Fallada is vicious in his portrayal of German politicians and he identifies a vicious streak in many of his ordinary characters. Against this he seems to offer little more than the fundamental integrity and humanity of ordinary people, people like Gustave, the cabbie. Even "Iron Gustave", the brutal father and hard businessman, a bully lacking in real feelings, turns out to be motivated by love and the desire to do the right thing and sufficiently self aware to appreciate that he may have got it all wrong. The novel ends on a terrific, optimistic upbeat, with quite a few suggestions that things are just starting to get better for Berliners. What we now know of course is that things were about to take another turn for the worse; in 1938 Hans Fallada already knew that and so did his readers. But maybe he hoped that Goebbels would not have seen it this way, or not been quite sure. And it is possible for us to take the novel on face value and enjoy the ending as a relief from the tough times it has described.
This is why I was reluctant to write a review. I cannot avoid seeing the political nature of such a novel and yet I would hate to drive readers away from what is, after all, such an affectionate and comical family saga. I don't know if the right answer to tyranny is humanity and humour; sometimes it is clearly not; I just wish it could be so and I think that for Hans Fallada, that was how he dealt with an insane country in an impossible era. I am reminded of the way Shostakovich had to deal with Stalin, always risking his very life to make great music. Spike Milligan would have us accept that Germans lack humour but with this novel, surely, Hans Fallada stared Joseph Goebbels in the face and dared to laugh.
A remark made about Gustave himself late in the book might possibly offer some justification for his record, or at least transfer some blame from him to his children for their own choices in life: " ...things - whether small or big - are not achieved because of the belief others have in us, but only because of the belief we have in ourselves." It sounds wise but then again, on reflection, we have to wonder where does that belief in ourselves come from? As a minimum, looking back over the lives of the different children, we have to concede that each, from much the same type of childhood, made dramatically different choices. There was nothing fully determined in their lives.
If Gustave cannot be blamed for all that transpires for his children, then we are obliged to look elsewhere for explanations. We are told repeatedly that the story is about the lives of real "Berliners"; maybe there is a message in this concept and we really are intended to see this family as a comment on their social, economic and political environment. Knowing that he had no less a critic than Joseph Goebbels looking over his work, and writing in the totalitarian Germany of 1938, whatever Hans Fallada wrote was always going to be coded. His ambiguity had indeed confused politicians sufficiently for him to be allowed to write. The truth is that the choices facing this generation of Berliners were harsh and restricted. The moral compass to which they were trained was seriously defective in the best cases and perverse in the worst. Hans Fallada is vicious in his portrayal of German politicians and he identifies a vicious streak in many of his ordinary characters. Against this he seems to offer little more than the fundamental integrity and humanity of ordinary people, people like Gustave, the cabbie. Even "Iron Gustave", the brutal father and hard businessman, a bully lacking in real feelings, turns out to be motivated by love and the desire to do the right thing and sufficiently self aware to appreciate that he may have got it all wrong. The novel ends on a terrific, optimistic upbeat, with quite a few suggestions that things are just starting to get better for Berliners. What we now know of course is that things were about to take another turn for the worse; in 1938 Hans Fallada already knew that and so did his readers. But maybe he hoped that Goebbels would not have seen it this way, or not been quite sure. And it is possible for us to take the novel on face value and enjoy the ending as a relief from the tough times it has described.
This is why I was reluctant to write a review. I cannot avoid seeing the political nature of such a novel and yet I would hate to drive readers away from what is, after all, such an affectionate and comical family saga. I don't know if the right answer to tyranny is humanity and humour; sometimes it is clearly not; I just wish it could be so and I think that for Hans Fallada, that was how he dealt with an insane country in an impossible era. I am reminded of the way Shostakovich had to deal with Stalin, always risking his very life to make great music. Spike Milligan would have us accept that Germans lack humour but with this novel, surely, Hans Fallada stared Joseph Goebbels in the face and dared to laugh.
October 14, 2017
This is a great book. Set in Berlin, it is on one level a potted history of Germany before, during and after WWI. It maps the effects of the war, the blockade, hyper-inflation, and the massive unemployment on "Iron Gustav" and his family. It is filled with astute observation and a genuine felt sympathy for the plight of the ordinary people.
As they are fond of telling you Berliners are special people, they have their own way of seeing things and a vicious sense of humour. This is a book about Berlin and Berliners. I think I need to read it again in the original to get the full flavour of the dialogue. Still worth a read in translation though.
As they are fond of telling you Berliners are special people, they have their own way of seeing things and a vicious sense of humour. This is a book about Berlin and Berliners. I think I need to read it again in the original to get the full flavour of the dialogue. Still worth a read in translation though.
November 1, 2014
Firstly, unlike recent clunky foreign novels that I have read, the translation here is top notch and does great justice to a great German writer, while making it an enjoyable read. Also, the introductory notes describing the "interference" by the art-loving philanthropist and humanitarian Herr Goebbels adds a bit of sulphur to the book. This Penguin edition is totally uncensored and includes all additions as well. Credit to Penguin on its publication.
I bought this book on the premise of the review by Eileen Battersby in the Irish Times - https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo... under the headline, "Iron Gustav: Could this be one of the finest novels any of us will ever read? Review: Finally available in its complete form, Hans Fallada’s tome is a masterful study of dire adversity."
I was not disappointed and raced through this big book of 500+ pages, the marathon fuelled by a few mugs of late-night coffee. Hans Fallada is right up there with the best and his books are slowly reaching us English speakers.
Gustav Hackendahl, is the central character and his word goes! Nicknamed 'Iron Gustav', he rules his family and his Berlin carriage business with a conservative stern, unyielding discipline. But his children have wills of their own, supported by his subservient wife, and soon they escape his dominance to fates varying from the better to the disasterous.
This is a powerful novel of the shattering effects of the First World War and the punishing Armistace, which left a wounded country ready for revenge, on both this family and a proud Germany. It really is a great book and a metaphor for a Germany and the Weimar Republic between the wars that created the vacuum and conditions for the Nazis to seize power and wreak unpardonable harm on the rest of the World, and their own people it must be said, in WWII. The poverty, economic inflation and divisions throughout Germany after WWI are excellently captured and mirrored in the Hackendahl family. Any other details would spoil a heartbreaking family chronicle and an unflinching portrayal of the First World War and its aftermath. History is written by the victors. If you want to gain an understanding of the so called losers - though I think all sides lost in WWI with the wiping out of a generation of great youth. What was the significant difference between terrified young men from Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, America, Australasia and Germany who were used as cannon fodder by armchair generals driven by industrialists and political power brokers? All our families suffered terrible loss.
I will definitely be reading more of Hans Fallada's work and have already been recommended "Alone in Berlin." A good buy with parts of the story that will linger long in one's mind and provoke thought.
Other published review for reference:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...
I bought this book on the premise of the review by Eileen Battersby in the Irish Times - https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo... under the headline, "Iron Gustav: Could this be one of the finest novels any of us will ever read? Review: Finally available in its complete form, Hans Fallada’s tome is a masterful study of dire adversity."
I was not disappointed and raced through this big book of 500+ pages, the marathon fuelled by a few mugs of late-night coffee. Hans Fallada is right up there with the best and his books are slowly reaching us English speakers.
Gustav Hackendahl, is the central character and his word goes! Nicknamed 'Iron Gustav', he rules his family and his Berlin carriage business with a conservative stern, unyielding discipline. But his children have wills of their own, supported by his subservient wife, and soon they escape his dominance to fates varying from the better to the disasterous.
This is a powerful novel of the shattering effects of the First World War and the punishing Armistace, which left a wounded country ready for revenge, on both this family and a proud Germany. It really is a great book and a metaphor for a Germany and the Weimar Republic between the wars that created the vacuum and conditions for the Nazis to seize power and wreak unpardonable harm on the rest of the World, and their own people it must be said, in WWII. The poverty, economic inflation and divisions throughout Germany after WWI are excellently captured and mirrored in the Hackendahl family. Any other details would spoil a heartbreaking family chronicle and an unflinching portrayal of the First World War and its aftermath. History is written by the victors. If you want to gain an understanding of the so called losers - though I think all sides lost in WWI with the wiping out of a generation of great youth. What was the significant difference between terrified young men from Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium, America, Australasia and Germany who were used as cannon fodder by armchair generals driven by industrialists and political power brokers? All our families suffered terrible loss.
I will definitely be reading more of Hans Fallada's work and have already been recommended "Alone in Berlin." A good buy with parts of the story that will linger long in one's mind and provoke thought.
Other published review for reference:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ent...
August 23, 2016
Yes, those dates are right. This book took me almost a year to finish, and I loved every minute.
I spent that year reveling in the density of Fallada's language: each page contains so much information it feels like a book in itself. It can be slow, confusing and a little overwhelming at times, but it's worth it.
Iron Gustav is the story of how an initially rich family in the heart of Berlin, controlled by their tyrant father, are ruined by the first world war, and by themselves. Fallada's writing is cold and emotionless and subtle and brilliant, and his lack of attachment for his heavily flawed, spoiled, greedy, selfish, morally grey characters is what makes you love them all the more. The story spans several years and it's an amazing insight into Berlin's history, and into the limits of people's compassion and determination.
(I also spent the year stressing out over coursework and watching way too much Tattoo Fixers, so don't be put off by how long it took me to finish. This book is brilliant and if I don't get to read everything Hans Fallada ever wrote before I die I will be seriously upset.)
I spent that year reveling in the density of Fallada's language: each page contains so much information it feels like a book in itself. It can be slow, confusing and a little overwhelming at times, but it's worth it.
Iron Gustav is the story of how an initially rich family in the heart of Berlin, controlled by their tyrant father, are ruined by the first world war, and by themselves. Fallada's writing is cold and emotionless and subtle and brilliant, and his lack of attachment for his heavily flawed, spoiled, greedy, selfish, morally grey characters is what makes you love them all the more. The story spans several years and it's an amazing insight into Berlin's history, and into the limits of people's compassion and determination.
(I also spent the year stressing out over coursework and watching way too much Tattoo Fixers, so don't be put off by how long it took me to finish. This book is brilliant and if I don't get to read everything Hans Fallada ever wrote before I die I will be seriously upset.)
September 18, 2018
This volume has been my companion for what feels like more than just a few weeks. It encompasses just about every human emotion you could imagine and takes place in cloudy wake of Berlin circa 1914-1929, an epoch I have been studying lately in considerable detail. A reconstructed translation of what is truly one of the great epics of modern German literature, the fact that we are even able to read this excellent novel in its current form constitutes a great victory, not only on Fallada's part (just read Jenny Williams' foreword to find out why) but also on part of the ordinary, faceless Berliners he depicts.
There is so much I could say about my impression of this novel, but in the absence of my having fully digested it enough to do so, I very much concur with the glowing review of IG in the Irish Times (their literary critics really seem to have a genuine love of his works) which you can find here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...
There is so much I could say about my impression of this novel, but in the absence of my having fully digested it enough to do so, I very much concur with the glowing review of IG in the Irish Times (their literary critics really seem to have a genuine love of his works) which you can find here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/bo...
March 15, 2017
In many respects, Hans Fallada is to Germany what John Steinbeck is to the US. They were roughly contemporaries, both wrote about the common man, and both saw a noble purpose in the life of the average person.
Iron Gustav was a Berlin cab driver, a veteran of WW-I and the strict authority figure in his family. His family mostly fell apart over time, largely due to the extremely poor conditions of the Wiemar years.
Like all Fallada novels, the plot in Iron Gustav moves slowly as lives progress; I was left with a strong sense of what it must have been like to have lived in Berlin during that time frame.
I am working my way through Hans Fallada's works, and I am certain I will read them all. The same as I long ago read everything Steinbeck ever wrote.
Iron Gustav was a Berlin cab driver, a veteran of WW-I and the strict authority figure in his family. His family mostly fell apart over time, largely due to the extremely poor conditions of the Wiemar years.
Like all Fallada novels, the plot in Iron Gustav moves slowly as lives progress; I was left with a strong sense of what it must have been like to have lived in Berlin during that time frame.
I am working my way through Hans Fallada's works, and I am certain I will read them all. The same as I long ago read everything Steinbeck ever wrote.
October 21, 2024
Eftersom jag fick mina litterära önskningar uppfyllda av Ensam i Berlin hoppades jag på samma lycka med Hackendahl ger sig aldrig. Men så blev det alls icke. Ensam i Berlin handlar om nazistmotstånd och kärlek, den här om anpassning och hat.
Hackendahl ger sig aldrig är en episodisk familjekrönika och mastodontroman på 700 sidor som utspelar sig i Tyskland under och efter första världskriget. I centrum står den girige, argsinte patriarken Gustav Hackendahl vars person är löst baserad på en verklig person (Hartman?). Gustav har fru, barn och ett bolag som hyr ut hästar och droskor.
Hans Fallada (1893-1947) hade erbarmlig otur eftersom han levde på fel plats i fel tid vilket antagligen har del i den självmordspakt och missbruksproblematik som följde honom genom livet. Trots detta lyckades han skriva flera bra böcker och han är en av Tysklands mest kända författare. Men den här historien om Hackendahl och hans stackars familjemedlemmar är tradig, stereotyp och dessutom vad det verkar påverkad av nazistledningen.
En sensmoral som jag plockar med mig är att barn bör vara försiktiga med att lyda sina föräldrar.
Hackendahl ger sig aldrig är en episodisk familjekrönika och mastodontroman på 700 sidor som utspelar sig i Tyskland under och efter första världskriget. I centrum står den girige, argsinte patriarken Gustav Hackendahl vars person är löst baserad på en verklig person (Hartman?). Gustav har fru, barn och ett bolag som hyr ut hästar och droskor.
Hans Fallada (1893-1947) hade erbarmlig otur eftersom han levde på fel plats i fel tid vilket antagligen har del i den självmordspakt och missbruksproblematik som följde honom genom livet. Trots detta lyckades han skriva flera bra böcker och han är en av Tysklands mest kända författare. Men den här historien om Hackendahl och hans stackars familjemedlemmar är tradig, stereotyp och dessutom vad det verkar påverkad av nazistledningen.
En sensmoral som jag plockar med mig är att barn bör vara försiktiga med att lyda sina föräldrar.
November 28, 2018
"...But nothing had remained. It was as if a child had made marks in the same: the dew obscured them, the wind blew the sand away,rain washed the marks away. Nothing remained."
Iron Gustav follows Gustav Hackendahl and his family over 20 years or so, showing the changes and challenges that faced Germans in the early part of last century. This book was a bit of a marathon, but the characters were well constructed and their experiences made me want to read on.
Iron Gustav follows Gustav Hackendahl and his family over 20 years or so, showing the changes and challenges that faced Germans in the early part of last century. This book was a bit of a marathon, but the characters were well constructed and their experiences made me want to read on.
January 25, 2023
Känslan när man vill ge en bok 6 av 5 möjliga och författaren är på väg att passera flera av giganterna från samma tid. (1900-talets första del)
Berättandet, karaktärerna och sidospåren. En fantastisk skröna om en familj i förskingring, Fallada använder splitter av sitt eget liv i historien och väver ihop det med verkliga historiska händelser. Vackert och gripande.
Berättandet, karaktärerna och sidospåren. En fantastisk skröna om en familj i förskingring, Fallada använder splitter av sitt eget liv i historien och väver ihop det med verkliga historiska händelser. Vackert och gripande.
October 8, 2020
Milzīgi apjomīgs stāsts par vācu tautas likteni pagājušā gadsimta sākumā un par atsevišķu personību rašanos, izmaiņām un izdzīvošanu šajos skarbajos Pirmā pasaules kara laika apstākļos. Lasu pēcvārdā, ka zināmā mērā par galvenā personāža Gustava prototipu ņemta reāli eksistējoša persona, lai gan ievadā teikts, ka "Visi šī romāna tēli, arī pats Dzelzs Gustavs, ir brīvas, radošas iztēles veidojumi. Nemeklējiet tajās atbilstību reālām personām." Laikam jau autors tikai pašu ideju smēlies no kāda reāla vecolaiku Berlīnes vieglā ormaņa, bet viss pārējais tiešām piedomāts klāt.
Ļoti labi sasaistīta personāžu dzīve ar reāliem faktiem, ar vēsturiskiem notikumiem, kas patiešām tajā laikā risinājušies. Nekāds vēsturnieks jau neesmu, neko daudz par Vācijas vēsturi līdz šim nebiju zinājis, tāpēc visnotaļ interesanti bija uzzināt, kā tad patiesībā toreiz cilvēki dzīvojuši. Domāju, ka Vācijas vietā tikpat labi varētu būt bijusi arī Latvija, neko daudz jau parasto ļaužu dzīve droši vien neatšķīrās. Dzīves apstākļu atspoguļojums brīžiem šķiet pavisam neticams, kaut arī ir reāls.
Nezināmu iemeslu dēļ šis romāns man atsauca atmiņā pirms nu jau laba laiciņa lasīto Viļa Lāča romānu "Akmeņainais ceļš" - droši vien dēļ līdzīga cilvēku likteņu skarbuma atspoguļojuma un pagājušā gadsimta dzīves raksturojuma. Kopumā jāsecina - bija vērts veltīt laiku šīm 636 lappusēm teksta!
Ļoti labi sasaistīta personāžu dzīve ar reāliem faktiem, ar vēsturiskiem notikumiem, kas patiešām tajā laikā risinājušies. Nekāds vēsturnieks jau neesmu, neko daudz par Vācijas vēsturi līdz šim nebiju zinājis, tāpēc visnotaļ interesanti bija uzzināt, kā tad patiesībā toreiz cilvēki dzīvojuši. Domāju, ka Vācijas vietā tikpat labi varētu būt bijusi arī Latvija, neko daudz jau parasto ļaužu dzīve droši vien neatšķīrās. Dzīves apstākļu atspoguļojums brīžiem šķiet pavisam neticams, kaut arī ir reāls.
Nezināmu iemeslu dēļ šis romāns man atsauca atmiņā pirms nu jau laba laiciņa lasīto Viļa Lāča romānu "Akmeņainais ceļš" - droši vien dēļ līdzīga cilvēku likteņu skarbuma atspoguļojuma un pagājušā gadsimta dzīves raksturojuma. Kopumā jāsecina - bija vērts veltīt laiku šīm 636 lappusēm teksta!
November 14, 2022
“‘I don’t know if we’re rotten or not. Perhaps the times in which we lived were rotten too, and it infected us. Can’t something that’s healthy also be infected by a rotten environment?’”
November 12, 2015
A true epic charting the fall of a Berlin working family from the early 20th century through to the rise of Nazism. It was reworked shortly after having been written to make it more effective as a piece of propaganda but even knowing this fact it is impossible not to be moved by some of the little tragedies that occur. The inevitable fate of the one truly likeable member of the Hackendahl family, Otto is very moving. Some of the characters are a little difficult to read at times; (Mother Hackendahl swings from an unconvincing flatness to wild melodrama that reminded me of Beryl Mercer's playing of Paul's mother in the 1930 film version of All Quiet on the Western Front) however the scope of the story as a whole makes up for this. Anyone wanting to gain a little more perspective on the German experience of the First World War and it's aftermath could do far worse than read this novel.
February 4, 2022
Iron Gustav, as he calls himself, is an ex sergeant major in the Prussian army who at the start of the novel is running a successful hackney cab business of thirty cabs in Berlin. He believes in the supposed virtues of the old order, obedience to authority, integrity and an inflexible adherence to rules he considers absolute. He has five children from whom he expects the same obedience to him as he gives to the Kaiser and the German state. His lack of sympathy for their individual characters and problems creates distance and antagonism despite his undoubted love for them. He finds it easier to show disapproval than affection. Only two manage to save themselves and live decent lives, one of which is cut short in the First World War. The war leads to the collapse of Gustav's business; he puts all his money in War loans, which become worthless, surrenders his gold to help the war effort, while those more cunning save it for the black market, and refuses to adapt to the arrival of the motor taxi. The various fates of his children allow Fallada to give a powerful description of the disorder of the end of the war, the disastrous peace settlement and the Weimar republic. Fallada does not, and probably was not able to analyse what is happening politically and wisely presents the disorder and violence through characters that can only see it from the outside, but the picture of the collapse of order and safety is none the less powerful for that.
Despite the failure of his business and his relationship with his children, Gustav never falters. Beaten and humiliated he is not broken and keeps going with a single cab, just about able to support his wife. His values remain intact; when his son Eric, disgraced and hunted as a traitor, is given shelter by his long suffering wife, Gustav gives him money and turns him out on the street, where he is promptly arrested. He never sees the his grandsons - the children of his eldest, Otto, who was killed in the war, but in a touching gesture he makes them a toy whip when he hears they like playing a driving cabs.
Gustav is given a final triumph when an ambitious reporter picks up his idea of taking his cab to Paris and back and gets the funding for the trip from his paper. The strange progress, fanned by the press, turns into a series of rapturous receptions. Gustav proves equal to every occasion, is feted in Paris and on his return to Berlin in 1928, with enough money to ensure his old age. The novel does not end on this happy note but on the arrest of Eric and the death of Gustav's wife, to whom the failure of her children has been the central tragedy of her life. Gustav tries desperately to keep her dying thoughts on the happier times they had when they were first married and away from the grim fate of her children; he just succeeds.
This novel suffered from Nazi interest. Fallada - no heroic resister - agreed to add chapters where Gustav and his only living decent son, Heinz, joined the Nazi party, making it appear to be the solution to the dissolution of social values charted by the novel. These have been rightly removed from the current edition, which preserves the form Fallada wanted.
Despite the failure of his business and his relationship with his children, Gustav never falters. Beaten and humiliated he is not broken and keeps going with a single cab, just about able to support his wife. His values remain intact; when his son Eric, disgraced and hunted as a traitor, is given shelter by his long suffering wife, Gustav gives him money and turns him out on the street, where he is promptly arrested. He never sees the his grandsons - the children of his eldest, Otto, who was killed in the war, but in a touching gesture he makes them a toy whip when he hears they like playing a driving cabs.
Gustav is given a final triumph when an ambitious reporter picks up his idea of taking his cab to Paris and back and gets the funding for the trip from his paper. The strange progress, fanned by the press, turns into a series of rapturous receptions. Gustav proves equal to every occasion, is feted in Paris and on his return to Berlin in 1928, with enough money to ensure his old age. The novel does not end on this happy note but on the arrest of Eric and the death of Gustav's wife, to whom the failure of her children has been the central tragedy of her life. Gustav tries desperately to keep her dying thoughts on the happier times they had when they were first married and away from the grim fate of her children; he just succeeds.
This novel suffered from Nazi interest. Fallada - no heroic resister - agreed to add chapters where Gustav and his only living decent son, Heinz, joined the Nazi party, making it appear to be the solution to the dissolution of social values charted by the novel. These have been rightly removed from the current edition, which preserves the form Fallada wanted.
November 8, 2025
Denne gamle man, kommen från mitten av förra århundradet, hade gått igenom oändligt mycket, krig, segrar och nederlag – en oändlig tid av de svåraste nederlag. Man behövde bara se på hans ansikte, detta rynkiga ansikte som en åker full med fåror, år för år hade nya besvikelser, allt värre vidrigheter, allt bittrare umbäranden blivit sådda där.
Dessa nio kapitel, som tillsammans tecknar ett tvärsnitt av mellankrigstiden, hade var och en kunnat bli en egen roman, om än skrivna av en betydligt mindre skicklig författare. Men Hans Fallada flätar samman dessa säregna individers öden på ett storartat sätt, samtidigt som han skildrar hur kriget tränger sig in i livet hos helt vanliga människor, där droskkusken Gustav Hackendahl (egentligen berlinaren Gustav Hartmann) blir modellen för stolthet och trångsynthet, och de ödesdigra konsekvenser sådana val kan få. Resultatet är både storslaget och djupt tragiskt, särskilt med tanke på det som väntar.
Och allt detta uppläst av en fullkomligt medryckande Reine Brynolfsson i ljudboksformat.
Dessa nio kapitel, som tillsammans tecknar ett tvärsnitt av mellankrigstiden, hade var och en kunnat bli en egen roman, om än skrivna av en betydligt mindre skicklig författare. Men Hans Fallada flätar samman dessa säregna individers öden på ett storartat sätt, samtidigt som han skildrar hur kriget tränger sig in i livet hos helt vanliga människor, där droskkusken Gustav Hackendahl (egentligen berlinaren Gustav Hartmann) blir modellen för stolthet och trångsynthet, och de ödesdigra konsekvenser sådana val kan få. Resultatet är både storslaget och djupt tragiskt, särskilt med tanke på det som väntar.
Och allt detta uppläst av en fullkomligt medryckande Reine Brynolfsson i ljudboksformat.
January 1, 2018
Firstly a note on the financing of the original novel (courtesy of the interesting introduction to the novel by jenny Williams). It was originally financed by the Nazi government as a propaganda work with intention of adapting it into a film for propaganda purposes. The original version of the novel by Fallada had displaced the Nazis and alot of censoring took place to make it into the propaganda piece they wanted. This translation is based on the original draft, which was helped to be recreated thanks to the 1940 british translation by Philip Owens. This makes an important point of the value of translations particularly where there is a totalitarian government which supresses the freedom of the people. With out the 1940 translation by Owens, could this edition have seen the light of day or would too much have been lost through the Nazis. After the original draft, Goebbels viewed Fallada as a writer hostile to the Nazis and the British publisher had gone to organise the evacuation of Fallada and his family in 1938 but Fallada at the last minute decided against it. The other Fallada novel I have read so far was Alone in Berlin which was financed by the Soviet government as a propaganda piece against the Nazis.
Anyway that aside, the novel starts with the news of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Gustav is the owner of a successful horse drawn carriage taxi company and the stern patriarch of the Hackendahl family. He and his wife have 5 children, Erich, Heinz, Eva, Sophie and Otto. With the advent of the war, Otto and Erich are both enlisted though Erich through a connection has a cushy position in Lille in an office. Sophie is a nurse, Heinz despite being too young wants to fight much to the credulous response of Gustav that the army doesn't need a marching boy leading the procession to war.
When I started the novel I expected that Gustav would not be a likeable character, not a sympathethic character and certainly in the early sections of it, this rings through but as the novel goes on, this changes and I became to care for it. One particular instance as motor cars take off and his business hits very hard times, this part sticks in my mind 15 months after I read it, that the hardest thing about the difficulty for Gustav being that at the end of the working day, driving the horse carriage, coming home without anything to give to his wife, that the difficulty isn't a day with nothing to show but to have nothing to give the woman he loves, that instant is a part of the strength of Fallada's writing.
There is a lot to this novel and despite being 586 pages long, there is no drag in it, no part of it felt to me to be overwritten and the dialogue by Fallada is superb throughout the novel. Keep in mind as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, this was intended to be adapted for film and so Fallada had borne this in mind as he was writing.
The novel goes through World War I and then years following the hard depression that had hit Germany in the aftermath. Through the difficulties of the time, Heinz represents a perfect antidote to Gustav, a very complimentary character.
This was an excellent book and I should have done a review of it earlier like last year when I finished it instead of waiting to now. I look forward to reading more Fallada with A Small Circus the next of his novel.
Anyway that aside, the novel starts with the news of the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Gustav is the owner of a successful horse drawn carriage taxi company and the stern patriarch of the Hackendahl family. He and his wife have 5 children, Erich, Heinz, Eva, Sophie and Otto. With the advent of the war, Otto and Erich are both enlisted though Erich through a connection has a cushy position in Lille in an office. Sophie is a nurse, Heinz despite being too young wants to fight much to the credulous response of Gustav that the army doesn't need a marching boy leading the procession to war.
When I started the novel I expected that Gustav would not be a likeable character, not a sympathethic character and certainly in the early sections of it, this rings through but as the novel goes on, this changes and I became to care for it. One particular instance as motor cars take off and his business hits very hard times, this part sticks in my mind 15 months after I read it, that the hardest thing about the difficulty for Gustav being that at the end of the working day, driving the horse carriage, coming home without anything to give to his wife, that the difficulty isn't a day with nothing to show but to have nothing to give the woman he loves, that instant is a part of the strength of Fallada's writing.
There is a lot to this novel and despite being 586 pages long, there is no drag in it, no part of it felt to me to be overwritten and the dialogue by Fallada is superb throughout the novel. Keep in mind as I mentioned in the opening paragraph, this was intended to be adapted for film and so Fallada had borne this in mind as he was writing.
The novel goes through World War I and then years following the hard depression that had hit Germany in the aftermath. Through the difficulties of the time, Heinz represents a perfect antidote to Gustav, a very complimentary character.
This was an excellent book and I should have done a review of it earlier like last year when I finished it instead of waiting to now. I look forward to reading more Fallada with A Small Circus the next of his novel.
May 31, 2022
Когда говоришь, что книга "простая", - это скорее негативная оценка. Но в случае с "Железным Густавом" она, наоборот, крайне положительная. Это простая книга, написанная простым языком, о простым человеческих чувствах... и, пожалуй, о нашем очень сложном мире.
Главный герой книги, последний берлинский извозчик Густав, пережил войны, увидел, как его семья разваливается по швам, как дети стали совсем не такими, какими он хотел бы их видеть, как его горячо любимая Германия превратилась непонятно во что. Но он не сломился. Он железный. Где-то грубый, где-то бездушный, слишком упрямый, но железный. Хотя даже он чувствует боль где-то внутри.
Роман охватывает период до и после Первой Мировой войны. История тесно сплетена с жизнями вот таких простых людей, как Густав и его семья. Но все же мне кажется, что роман этот в первую очередь семейная драма, а только потом историческое полотно о жизни Германии. Ох, как порой тяжело было читать! И ведь по сути Фаллада не концентрирует на описании каких-то ужасов войны или послевоенного времени, голода, безработицы. У него обо всем этом сказано, но как-то... второстепенно. Просто невыносимо больно за главных героев, которые по большей части сами калечат свой мир.
Есть в романе эпизод, где сын Густава смотрит на крокусы в городском парке и думает, что вот люди меняются, а крокусы остаются такими же. Он думает, что люди до войны и после совсем другие. Но, прочитав этот роман, лишний раз я убедилась в том, что люди не меняются. Меняются обстоятельства, да и они по большей части просто лишь слегка модифицируются. А люди те же. Везде. Всегда. Не учатся они на ошибках.
10 / 10
July 6, 2016
This is a sprawling tale of the Hackendahl family from the start of World War I to the tumultuous period after. The novel centers itself on the character of Gustav Hackendahl, the titular 'Iron Gustav'- he's the strict, no-nonsense disciplinarian, who evokes a complex mixture of fear, respect and hatred in his children. However, I thoroughly enjoyed Fallada's portrayal of each member of the Hackendahl family- by adopting the perspective of each member of the Hackendahl family, we see each individual's persistent attempts to survive and thrive amidst death and crushing poverty, and their different fates at the hands of an uncaring society.
Fallada masterfully portrays dysfunctional relationships; he does not shy away from tackling the breakdown of familial relations and toxic romantic relationships throughout the novel, reflecting how the larger turmoil in society impacts the lives of individuals and families. Reading about the impact of historical events (e.g. the political and economic turmoil post-World War I) on the lives of characters like Heinz Hackendahl (Gustav's son) was a powerful experience. Fallada does indeed have a gift for writing in a realistic, journalistic style, yet still conveying the tragedy of ordinary lives in extraordinary times.
This book does have a storied history of censorship, due in part to the Nazi regime and also because of an unfaithful English translation. It is heartening to see Fallada's artistic take on this tumultuous period in Germany's history finally shine through in this restored edition.
Fallada masterfully portrays dysfunctional relationships; he does not shy away from tackling the breakdown of familial relations and toxic romantic relationships throughout the novel, reflecting how the larger turmoil in society impacts the lives of individuals and families. Reading about the impact of historical events (e.g. the political and economic turmoil post-World War I) on the lives of characters like Heinz Hackendahl (Gustav's son) was a powerful experience. Fallada does indeed have a gift for writing in a realistic, journalistic style, yet still conveying the tragedy of ordinary lives in extraordinary times.
This book does have a storied history of censorship, due in part to the Nazi regime and also because of an unfaithful English translation. It is heartening to see Fallada's artistic take on this tumultuous period in Germany's history finally shine through in this restored edition.
August 20, 2018
Der Eiserne Gustav verdankt seinen Namen einem äußerst bezeichnenden Charakterzug, dem eisern sein. Er ist nämlich so einer, der sich nicht gerne etwas sagen lässt. Von niemandem. Weder der Industrialisierung, noch dem Ersten Weltkrieg und von der Weltwirtschaftskrise sowieso nicht. Aber innerlich, da brodelt es bei ihm. Als Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts die ersten Automobiltaxen auftauchen, da hält Gustav immer noch an seinen Pferdedroschken fest. Dann kommt der Erste Weltkrieg und mit ihm die Weltwirtschaftskrise. Gustav verliert fast alle seine Pferde und Angestellten, jede Menge Geld und beinahe seine Würde. Aber der Eiserne Gustav wäre nicht der Eiserne Gustav, wenn er sich davon unterkriegen lassen würde. Er plant eine Reise. Von Berlin nach Paris und wieder zurück. Mit der Kutsche. Und alle sollen davon wissen.
Was ich an diesem Buch wie an den meisten Romanen von Hans Fallada so mag, sind die unterschiedlichen Charaktere: hier treffen wir neben dem Eisernen Gustav noch auf seine ganze Familie, deren Mitglieder mal mehr und mal weniger auf dem Kerbholz haben und die die ganze Bandbreite am Menschsein darstellen. Noch dazu kommt die Berliner Schnauze, die keiner so authentisch wie Fallada (be)schreiben kann.
Was ich an diesem Buch wie an den meisten Romanen von Hans Fallada so mag, sind die unterschiedlichen Charaktere: hier treffen wir neben dem Eisernen Gustav noch auf seine ganze Familie, deren Mitglieder mal mehr und mal weniger auf dem Kerbholz haben und die die ganze Bandbreite am Menschsein darstellen. Noch dazu kommt die Berliner Schnauze, die keiner so authentisch wie Fallada (be)schreiben kann.
April 30, 2012
Keineswegs die leichte Komödie, die man nach der Verfilmung mit Rühmann in der Hauptrolle erwarten würde. Die Droschkenfahrt nach Paris kommt erst ganz am Ende, nach Seite 700, dran. Zuvor wird das Schicksal der Familie Hackedahl von Sommer 1914 bis 1928 erzählt - 1. Weltkrieg, Räterepublik, Nachkriegszeit, Inflation, ... Keineswegs leichte Kost, von Fallada im Stil der neuen Sachlichkeit gekonnt geschrieben, flüssig zu lesen.
January 17, 2015
Interesting to read the aftermath of WW1 from the German side. Otherwise quite Dickensian.
January 14, 2022
The eponymous anti-hero of this novel is Gustav Hackendahl, the owner of a large fleet of horse-drawn cabs in pre-World War One Berlin. As his nickname implies, Gustav is hard, unyielding, and largely devoid of any emotions, excepting rage when his will is thwarted. Not a person you'd pick for father of the year, and that's the tragedy at the heart of the story. Gustav has a wife and five children, and this sprawling novel charts the decline and fall of Gustav and his family (and Germany) from 1914 to the early '30s. Gustav has no love or even affection for his children. The only reason he seems to have had a family is so that he'd have people to honour and obey him.
The war begins the ruin, financial and otherwise, of the Hackendahl family. Gustav's horses are requisitioned, his eldest son joins the army, and the other children make life decisions that will take them far away from their father. One daughter, Eve, becomes a prostitute, the middle son a corrupt politician and speculator, the eldest daughter a nurse, and the youngest son drifts from school to long-term unemployment as Germany staggers through the post-war era of economic chaos and political upheaval. Sounds like fun, right? The genius of Fallada is that even though he's describing a cascading series of calamities, defeats and crises afflicting the Hackendahls and Germany, his writing never swerves into mawkishness or sentimentality. The tone throughout the novel is bitter amusement at the ways people can willfully and enthusiastically fuck up their lives and their nation. Fallada points out the political and social reasons that help push the Hackendahls over the edge, but he doesn't let the individual characters off the hook for some terrible personal choices. Fallada also allows for sheer, dumb, bad luck to enter into the story as it does in the real world.
As in his masterpiece, Alone in Berlin, Fallada shows an uncanny gift for describing life on the edge. The physical and psychological pains of being unemployed and/or destitute are something he had first-hand knowledge of, and he writes about the subject with a kind of morbid joy, like someone attentively picking at a large and clingy scab. Fallada is telling the story of an entire epoch in German history and he does it through the prism of Gustav. The qualities that Gustav most prizes--stubbornness, pride, self-sacrifice, patriotism, obedience to authority--are the very ones that send his children off on orbits that mostly end in death and disaster. Gustav's prized qualities are also shared by the pre-war state, which makes his eventual decline all the more inevitable in the context of the post-war Weimar Republic.
Iron Gustav was originally conceived of as a film project, and there is a cinematic quality to certain parts of the novel that helps make it one of the most readable and, dare I say it, enjoyable tales of calamity I've ever read. It's hard to describe this novel without making it sound like a sure cure for happiness, but writing this incisive and energetic, even on a dismal subject, is always a pleasure.
The war begins the ruin, financial and otherwise, of the Hackendahl family. Gustav's horses are requisitioned, his eldest son joins the army, and the other children make life decisions that will take them far away from their father. One daughter, Eve, becomes a prostitute, the middle son a corrupt politician and speculator, the eldest daughter a nurse, and the youngest son drifts from school to long-term unemployment as Germany staggers through the post-war era of economic chaos and political upheaval. Sounds like fun, right? The genius of Fallada is that even though he's describing a cascading series of calamities, defeats and crises afflicting the Hackendahls and Germany, his writing never swerves into mawkishness or sentimentality. The tone throughout the novel is bitter amusement at the ways people can willfully and enthusiastically fuck up their lives and their nation. Fallada points out the political and social reasons that help push the Hackendahls over the edge, but he doesn't let the individual characters off the hook for some terrible personal choices. Fallada also allows for sheer, dumb, bad luck to enter into the story as it does in the real world.
As in his masterpiece, Alone in Berlin, Fallada shows an uncanny gift for describing life on the edge. The physical and psychological pains of being unemployed and/or destitute are something he had first-hand knowledge of, and he writes about the subject with a kind of morbid joy, like someone attentively picking at a large and clingy scab. Fallada is telling the story of an entire epoch in German history and he does it through the prism of Gustav. The qualities that Gustav most prizes--stubbornness, pride, self-sacrifice, patriotism, obedience to authority--are the very ones that send his children off on orbits that mostly end in death and disaster. Gustav's prized qualities are also shared by the pre-war state, which makes his eventual decline all the more inevitable in the context of the post-war Weimar Republic.
Iron Gustav was originally conceived of as a film project, and there is a cinematic quality to certain parts of the novel that helps make it one of the most readable and, dare I say it, enjoyable tales of calamity I've ever read. It's hard to describe this novel without making it sound like a sure cure for happiness, but writing this incisive and energetic, even on a dismal subject, is always a pleasure.
December 12, 2024
Hans Falladas «Der eiserne Gustav» war eine literarische Reise durch die frühe Moderne, es bietet den Leserinnen und Lesern einen kleinen Einblick in eine spannungsgeladene, hitzige, dynamische Zeit. Im Zentrum des beinahe 800 Seiten umfassenden Werks steht Gustav Hackendahl oder auch der «eiserne Gustav» genannt. Fallada greift hier auf die historische Persönlichkeit des Gustav Hartmanns zurück. Wie auch Hartmann, ist Hackendahl ein Droschkenunternehmer aus dem tieferen Mittelstand, der in Berlin zusammen mit seiner Frau sowie fünf Kindern lebt.
Hackendahl ist «eisern», d.h. er regiert mit eiserner Hand und er besitzt Prinzipien, die nicht umgerührt werden können. Für ihn – passend in der wilhelminischen Zeit – ist das Pflichtbewusstsein, die Gehorsam und Disziplin die obersten Tugenden. Diese rücksichtslose Art wird von ihm im Roman immer wieder ausgelebt. Besonders brisant ist etwa, als er seinen eigenen Sohn im Keller einsperrt, um seinen Willen durchzusetzen – und dieser setzt er auch stets durch!
Als Droschkenführer fährt er seine Wagen durch die Strassen Berlins, während der 1. Weltkrieg losbricht. In diesem verliert er seinen Sohn Otto. Hackendahl aber ist nicht speziell berührt vom Tod Ottos, während die Mutter um den Sohn, aber auch um die zunehmenden, weggehenden Kinder weint – ausser ihr jüngster Sohn Heinz bleibt länger. Aber selbst die Töchter Eva und Sophie halten es unter der Regide Hackendahls nicht aus. So wird das bereits zerrüttete Familienverhältnis immer weiter aufgeweicht, während die Zeit voranschreitet. Schliesslich entschliesst sich Hackendahl – nachdem er seiner Ansicht nach persönliche Niederlagen einstecken musste – eine Reise nach Paris mit einem Wagen zu machen.^
Falladas weiss es nicht nur das kleine Soziotop der Hackendahls zu konstruieren (in Anlehnung an den realen Hartmann), sondern dieses gekonnt mit der Zeit der Moderne zu verknüpfen: Das Aufkommen der Autos (und dem Niedergang des Unternehmens Hackendahls) beschleunigt das Fahren, Kriegsversehrte des 1. Weltkriegs, welche die Strassen säumen, die zunehmende Arbeitslosigkeit und Nahrungsmittelmange um 1921/22, der Einmarsch der Franzosen ins Ruhrgebiet. Es sind Ereignisse, die auch immer wieder auf die Hackendahls zurückfallen. So auch auf Gustav Hackendahl, an dem die Zeit frisst: er ist zum Schluss «alt und traurig, nur noch die Vergangenheit lebt ihn ihm, die Erinnerungen kriechen wie Würmer in seinem Hirn. Aber darum tut er sich doch nichts, darum lebt er doch weiter.» (Fallada, eiserne Gustav, S. 774) Ein Verdikt welches auch in unserer Zeit von höchster Aktualität sein kann.
Quelle: Fallada, Hans: Der eiserne Gustav, Berlin 2019.
Hackendahl ist «eisern», d.h. er regiert mit eiserner Hand und er besitzt Prinzipien, die nicht umgerührt werden können. Für ihn – passend in der wilhelminischen Zeit – ist das Pflichtbewusstsein, die Gehorsam und Disziplin die obersten Tugenden. Diese rücksichtslose Art wird von ihm im Roman immer wieder ausgelebt. Besonders brisant ist etwa, als er seinen eigenen Sohn im Keller einsperrt, um seinen Willen durchzusetzen – und dieser setzt er auch stets durch!
Als Droschkenführer fährt er seine Wagen durch die Strassen Berlins, während der 1. Weltkrieg losbricht. In diesem verliert er seinen Sohn Otto. Hackendahl aber ist nicht speziell berührt vom Tod Ottos, während die Mutter um den Sohn, aber auch um die zunehmenden, weggehenden Kinder weint – ausser ihr jüngster Sohn Heinz bleibt länger. Aber selbst die Töchter Eva und Sophie halten es unter der Regide Hackendahls nicht aus. So wird das bereits zerrüttete Familienverhältnis immer weiter aufgeweicht, während die Zeit voranschreitet. Schliesslich entschliesst sich Hackendahl – nachdem er seiner Ansicht nach persönliche Niederlagen einstecken musste – eine Reise nach Paris mit einem Wagen zu machen.^
Falladas weiss es nicht nur das kleine Soziotop der Hackendahls zu konstruieren (in Anlehnung an den realen Hartmann), sondern dieses gekonnt mit der Zeit der Moderne zu verknüpfen: Das Aufkommen der Autos (und dem Niedergang des Unternehmens Hackendahls) beschleunigt das Fahren, Kriegsversehrte des 1. Weltkriegs, welche die Strassen säumen, die zunehmende Arbeitslosigkeit und Nahrungsmittelmange um 1921/22, der Einmarsch der Franzosen ins Ruhrgebiet. Es sind Ereignisse, die auch immer wieder auf die Hackendahls zurückfallen. So auch auf Gustav Hackendahl, an dem die Zeit frisst: er ist zum Schluss «alt und traurig, nur noch die Vergangenheit lebt ihn ihm, die Erinnerungen kriechen wie Würmer in seinem Hirn. Aber darum tut er sich doch nichts, darum lebt er doch weiter.» (Fallada, eiserne Gustav, S. 774) Ein Verdikt welches auch in unserer Zeit von höchster Aktualität sein kann.
Quelle: Fallada, Hans: Der eiserne Gustav, Berlin 2019.
August 16, 2021
Disclaimer: Some readers may conclude from this review that this novel is "dry". Nothing could be further from the truth. It is an extremely enthralling masterpiece that makes you feel as well as think.
Hans Fallada belongs with the literary giants of the world. While Fitzgerald shined a bright light on the "haves" of the Jazz Age in America, Fallada shined his brilliant prose on the common man of the same period. The world that Fallada reveals, and indeed it is a revelation for most readers considering how seldom the "have nots" are portrayed in contemporary fiction.
Published in 1938, Iron Gustav: A Berlin Family Chronicle takes place in and around Berlin, Germany from before WW I to right before the Third Reich. It's themes are many. Generational/family conflicts run throughout the novel. While "Nazi" never appears in the book, it is clear that one of Iron Gustav's sons (Erich) is a criminal and early participant in that right-wing movement. There is anti-Red dialogue among the bar customers as well. But Fallada steered clear of politics as best he could, riding out the Hitler period as best he could. It wasn't easy considering all of the back-stabbing and imprecise determination of what was deemed anti-Nazi behavior/writing. That being said, Fallada somewhat successfully avoided the slippery slope of conformity in his writing.
Iron Gustav was a former Prussian soldier in a relatively peaceful period of time. He ran his family as a no-nonsense regiment. His children had to toe the line. It was his way or the highway. Tough love was his signature. Of course as the world entered the post WW I period, life changed. Bismarck was out along with much of Prussian (Gustav) influence in the unified Germany. The clash among the remaining followers of Bismarck, the Social Democrats, the Russian-influenced Communists and the right-leaning Fascists created turmoil in Germany. Adding to chaos were the devastating economic conditions brought on by the Treaty of Versailles and world-wide depression.
Having a measure of historical background helps the reader to understand how these events impacted the lives of the common man. No cabarets here. Gustav resists inevitable change. His offspring take separate paths to survival . . . some good, some not. An increasingly heart-wrenching daily life goes on. Fallada's genius is in using storytelling to dig deeply into the causes of deep scars in the human condition.
Hans Fallada belongs with the literary giants of the world. While Fitzgerald shined a bright light on the "haves" of the Jazz Age in America, Fallada shined his brilliant prose on the common man of the same period. The world that Fallada reveals, and indeed it is a revelation for most readers considering how seldom the "have nots" are portrayed in contemporary fiction.
Published in 1938, Iron Gustav: A Berlin Family Chronicle takes place in and around Berlin, Germany from before WW I to right before the Third Reich. It's themes are many. Generational/family conflicts run throughout the novel. While "Nazi" never appears in the book, it is clear that one of Iron Gustav's sons (Erich) is a criminal and early participant in that right-wing movement. There is anti-Red dialogue among the bar customers as well. But Fallada steered clear of politics as best he could, riding out the Hitler period as best he could. It wasn't easy considering all of the back-stabbing and imprecise determination of what was deemed anti-Nazi behavior/writing. That being said, Fallada somewhat successfully avoided the slippery slope of conformity in his writing.
Iron Gustav was a former Prussian soldier in a relatively peaceful period of time. He ran his family as a no-nonsense regiment. His children had to toe the line. It was his way or the highway. Tough love was his signature. Of course as the world entered the post WW I period, life changed. Bismarck was out along with much of Prussian (Gustav) influence in the unified Germany. The clash among the remaining followers of Bismarck, the Social Democrats, the Russian-influenced Communists and the right-leaning Fascists created turmoil in Germany. Adding to chaos were the devastating economic conditions brought on by the Treaty of Versailles and world-wide depression.
Having a measure of historical background helps the reader to understand how these events impacted the lives of the common man. No cabarets here. Gustav resists inevitable change. His offspring take separate paths to survival . . . some good, some not. An increasingly heart-wrenching daily life goes on. Fallada's genius is in using storytelling to dig deeply into the causes of deep scars in the human condition.
January 20, 2025
A heavy, very bleak, depressing but also very good book. Whilst many other stories or films concentrate on the brutal realities of war on the front lines, this one deals with the tragedy of people at home. Their struggle to support themselves and their families with basic daily commodities and food.
You watch how people cheer when war is declared, without knowing what that actually means. How blind faith and enthusiasm gives way to the reality of war and to see how the mood changes as the brutal reality of war has a constant impact on their daily lives.
It is also a story of a father who is totally out of touch with what is going on in the minds and hearts of his children, which leads down some dark paths. The book manages to be brutal without the use of constant scenes of physical violence. Especially the fate of one member of the family is...to me...soul destroying.
It is hard to blame the father for everything that is happening to his family. One could argue that people, when they have grown up, are responsible for themselves. But I think there is no denying that people are shaped by their upbringing. Depending on the character you might grow strong and resist, bend under the pressure and recover...or break.
The time that this story takes place in clearly exacerbates the whole situation and leaves little room for recovery. To me it felt like many characters stumbled once and the fall that follows simply does not stop. As if they where tumbling down the slope of a rocky mountainside, receiving injury after injury as they keep hitting one rock after another.
There are many occasions that made me put the book down, where I was thinking about my own life and what is going on in the world right now. It is, like many books, a book about choices and the way we behave towards others, often not realising how much of an impact all of our little actions and words could have on someone else. How children can be shaped when they are little by the behaviour, actions and non-actions of their parents, whilst the parents have not the faintest idea of what they are doing is setting the trajectory on which their children might be traveling for the rest of their lives.
The book certainly had an impact on me and in my opinion it is well worth reading BUT I would not read it again if I was in a dark mood myself. Even though the characters are all fictional, the time and the backstory that the book takes place in did exist. I have no doubt that many people did live out their lives in very similar circumstances (if not worse) back then.
You watch how people cheer when war is declared, without knowing what that actually means. How blind faith and enthusiasm gives way to the reality of war and to see how the mood changes as the brutal reality of war has a constant impact on their daily lives.
It is also a story of a father who is totally out of touch with what is going on in the minds and hearts of his children, which leads down some dark paths. The book manages to be brutal without the use of constant scenes of physical violence. Especially the fate of one member of the family is...to me...soul destroying.
It is hard to blame the father for everything that is happening to his family. One could argue that people, when they have grown up, are responsible for themselves. But I think there is no denying that people are shaped by their upbringing. Depending on the character you might grow strong and resist, bend under the pressure and recover...or break.
The time that this story takes place in clearly exacerbates the whole situation and leaves little room for recovery. To me it felt like many characters stumbled once and the fall that follows simply does not stop. As if they where tumbling down the slope of a rocky mountainside, receiving injury after injury as they keep hitting one rock after another.
There are many occasions that made me put the book down, where I was thinking about my own life and what is going on in the world right now. It is, like many books, a book about choices and the way we behave towards others, often not realising how much of an impact all of our little actions and words could have on someone else. How children can be shaped when they are little by the behaviour, actions and non-actions of their parents, whilst the parents have not the faintest idea of what they are doing is setting the trajectory on which their children might be traveling for the rest of their lives.
The book certainly had an impact on me and in my opinion it is well worth reading BUT I would not read it again if I was in a dark mood myself. Even though the characters are all fictional, the time and the backstory that the book takes place in did exist. I have no doubt that many people did live out their lives in very similar circumstances (if not worse) back then.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2021
Die Geschichte des Droschkenkutschers Gustav, der in der Zeit der Weimarer Republik, zwischen zwei verheerenden Weltkriegen, mit seiner Droschke von Berlin nach Paris fährt hat Hans Fallada vor über achtzig Jahren veröffentlicht. Sie beruht auf einer wahren Begebenheit. Unfassbar, wie frisch und nahe dem Leser nach all dieser Zeit die Beschreibungen des Lebens der Menschen in dieser Zeit noch sind. Und unvorstellbar, wie schlimm die Lage der "kleinen Leute" schon während und nach dem ersten Weltkrieg war, noch bevor das Grauen des zweiten Weltkrieges Deutschland heimsuchte.
Unfassbar auch, dass es sich bei der Geschichte um eine Auftragsarbeit für die Nazis handelte. Fallada sollte ein Drehbuch über den Stoff verfassen. Darin sollte der Nationalsozialismus als Retter der kleinen Leute dargestellt werden. Als Fallada diese Vorgabe in seinem Roman nicht einhielt, musste er große Teile des Manuskripts, vor allem den Schluss umschreiben. Das ursprüngliche Manuskript ist nicht erhalten, nach dem Krieg erschien das Buch in Ost und West in verschiedenen, unterschiedlichen Ausgaben. Der Aufbau Verlag legt nun eine weitere Ausgabe mit einem von der Fallada-Biographin Jenny Williams neu erstellten Schluss vor. Ein bisschen frech ist es schon, dies dann "Urfassung" zu nennen. Aber die Kommentare und Erläuterungen dieser Ausgabe sind sehr interessant und aufschlussreich. Der Roman selbst ist ebenso interessant wie seine Geschichte. Das Verdienst dieser Neuausgabe ist sicher , eine neue und vielleicht auch jüngere Leserschaft für beides zu begeistern. Für mich ist dieser Roman Pflichtlektüre für das Verständnis des heutigen Deutschlands.
Unfassbar auch, dass es sich bei der Geschichte um eine Auftragsarbeit für die Nazis handelte. Fallada sollte ein Drehbuch über den Stoff verfassen. Darin sollte der Nationalsozialismus als Retter der kleinen Leute dargestellt werden. Als Fallada diese Vorgabe in seinem Roman nicht einhielt, musste er große Teile des Manuskripts, vor allem den Schluss umschreiben. Das ursprüngliche Manuskript ist nicht erhalten, nach dem Krieg erschien das Buch in Ost und West in verschiedenen, unterschiedlichen Ausgaben. Der Aufbau Verlag legt nun eine weitere Ausgabe mit einem von der Fallada-Biographin Jenny Williams neu erstellten Schluss vor. Ein bisschen frech ist es schon, dies dann "Urfassung" zu nennen. Aber die Kommentare und Erläuterungen dieser Ausgabe sind sehr interessant und aufschlussreich. Der Roman selbst ist ebenso interessant wie seine Geschichte. Das Verdienst dieser Neuausgabe ist sicher , eine neue und vielleicht auch jüngere Leserschaft für beides zu begeistern. Für mich ist dieser Roman Pflichtlektüre für das Verständnis des heutigen Deutschlands.
June 4, 2019
Hans Fallada, I do believe, was a man of genius. He has such a talent to capture the spectacular in the ordinary lives of people. For instance, Iron Gustav; a typical nuclear Berlin family of the early 20th century, 2 parents, 5 children, Gustav a cab driver, Frau Hackendahl a stay at home wife and children at school or working jobs typical of the age such as in the stables. Nothing out the ordinary, except perhaps Gustav's military-like ways. Then the First World War begins, and a mixture of the cataclysm of war and the helplessness of a completely average family create a string of various different sub-stories as each family member embarks on a journey of their own. Again, none of the journeys are particularly unique or spectacular, in fact, I'd be surprised if people couldn't guess what some of them are before even reading the book. But Fallada manages to enthral the reader to want to keep reading, to know what mundane and yet exciting event will unfold next. It's quite difficult to explain this dynamic, I do not really know any other author who writes in such a way (perhaps Charles Dickens). All I can say is, in my opinion, this is an author who hasn't got the status I feel he deserves in the annals of literary history, and it is a real shame because there are some real pieces of masterclass writing to found in his works.
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