The Best German Novels of the Twentieth Century is a list of books compiled in 1999 by
Literaturhaus München
The Literaturhaus München is a cultural institution in the center of Munich, dedicated to the teaching of literature and the organization of literary events.
History of the building
The Salvatorkirche (Munich), Salvatorkirche is located at t ...
and
Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector and ...
, in which 99 prominent German authors, literary critics, and scholars of
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
ranked the most significant German-language novels of the twentieth century.
The group brought together 33 experts from each of the three categories.
[Wolfgang Riedel, "Robert Musil: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften" in ''Lektüren für das 21. Jahrhundert: Schlüsseltexte der deutschen Literatur von 1200 bis 1900'', ed. Dorothea Klein and Sabine M. Schneider, Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2000, ]
p. 265
Each was allowed to name three books as having been the most important of the century. Cited by the group were five titles each by
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...
and
Arno Schmidt
Arno Schmidt (; 18 January 1914 – 3 June 1979) was a German author and translator. He is little known outside of German-speaking areas, in part because his works present a formidable challenge to translators. Although he is not one of the p ...
, four by
Robert Walser, and three each by
Thomas Mann
Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novella ...
,
Hermann Broch
Hermann Broch (; 1 November 1886 – 30 May 1951) was an Austrian writer, best known for two major works of modernist fiction: '' The Sleepwalkers'' (''Die Schlafwandler,'' 1930–32) and ''The Death of Virgil'' (''Der Tod des Vergil,'' 1945).
...
,
Anna Seghers
Anna Seghers (; born ''Anna Reiling,'' 19 November 1900 – 1 June 1983), is the pseudonym of a German writer notable for exploring and depicting the moral experience of the Second World War. Born into a Jewish family and married to a Hungarian ...
and
Joseph Roth
Moses Joseph Roth (2 September 1894 – 27 May 1939) was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga ''Radetzky March'' (1932), about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, his novel of Jewish life ''Job'' ( ...
.
[
]
Top 10
See also
* ''NRCs Best Dutch novels
References
External links
Der Kanon
– article on the novels of the German literary canon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Best German Novels Of The Twentieth Century
Lists of novels
Top book lists