Tales of the German Imagination from the Brothers Grimm to Ingeborg Bachmann (Penguin Classics)

'Itwasaverymomentousday,thedayonwhichIwastobeslaughtered'Bringingtogethertalesofmelancholyandmadness,nightmareandfantasy,thisisanewcollectionofthemosthauntingGermanstoriesfromthepast200years.RangingfromtheRomanticsoftheearlynineteenthcenturytoworksofcontemporaryfiction,itincludesHoffmann'shallucinatoryportraitofterrorandinsanity'TheSandman';Chamisso'sinfluentialblackmasterpiece'PeterSchlemiel',whereamanbartershisownshadow;Kafka'schilling,disturbingsatire'InthePenalColony';theDadaistsurrealismofKurtSchwitters''TheOnion';andBachmann'smodernfairytale'TheSecretsofthePrincessofKagran'.Macabre,dreamlikeandexpressingdeepunconsciousfears,thesestoriesarealsospikedwithunsettlinghumour,showingstylisticdaringaswellasgivinginsightintothedarkestrecessesofthehumancondition.PeterWortsman'spowerfultranslationsareaccompaniedbybriefoverviewsofthelivesofeachauthor,andanintroductiondiscussingthenotionof'angst'andthestories'placeinthecontextofGermanhistory.Translated,selectedandeditedwithanintroductionbyPeterWortsman.