Berlin Alexanderplatz

Alfred Döblin (1878-1957) studied medicine in Berlin and specialized in the treatment of nervous diseases. Along with his experiences as a psychiatrist in the workers' quarter of Berlin, his writing was inspired by the work of Holderlin, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and was first published in the literary magazine, Der Sturm. Associated with the Expressionist literary movement in Germany, he is now recognized as on of the most important modern European novelists.

Berlin Alexanderplatz is one of the masterpieces of modern European literature and the first German novel to adopt the technique of James Joyce. It tells the story of Franz Biberkopf, who, on being released from prison, is confronted with the poverty, unemployment, crime and burgeoning Nazism of 1920s Germany. As Franz struggles to survive in this world, fate teases him with a little pleasure before cruelly turning on him.

Foreword by Alexander Stephan

Translated by Eugene Jolas.

Alfred Döblin, born in Germany in 1878, was a physician and a prolific writer. he lived and practiced in the working class district of Alexanderplatz for over twenty years, until the rise of Nazism drove him to the United States in 1933. He returned to Europe after the war. Virtually ignored for years, Döblin's books are all back in print as a new generation discovers him.