Best german novels?

Hesse and Mann. They're great coming-of-age literature. Worthy of a read, not overly complex and use modern language. I'd recommend Grass, Brecht and possibly Tucholsky before you move on to classics.

Don't fall for this.

what?

It's shit.

Musil the man without qualities. Hands down

I wouldnt recommend Mann for language learners desu, he uses long-ass sentences, lots of unusual, stylized language and often lets his characters speak in heavy dialects
thats like recommending Joyce to an english newbie - stick with Hesse, Kafka, Frisch etc.

came here to post this

as we all know, the best Germans are Austrians

Momo. But it also depends on your level, I guess Momo can be read by a B1.

who here likes public image ltd?

also, "Crab Walk"

Most recently, this was a pleasure to read.
Recommend this, if you want some newer things. The big novels should be known, so this or "Der goldene Handschuh"-Heinz Strunk are worthwhile reads.

What are some german novels that don't give a fuck about the reader, and assume the reader has all the references and intellectual capability of the author? I'm not looking for an academic work per se (although I am enjoying Werner Jaeger), but anything that doesn't pull punches.

On Pain, Ernst Junger

delphinensommer

die blechtrommel

Turbopleb.

what kind of floss do you use Veeky Forums this my favorite brand. what you like?

Dreigroschenroman

this is true except for doblin

>Austrians
Literally discounter Bavarians. Fuck off, Herr Gruber.

Berlin Alexanderplatz

Faust
Die Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull
Der Untertan
Der Steppenwolf
Professor Unrat

Great choices all around, I haven't read Untertan yet but I've heard great things

yeah really liked it even though I had to pick it up again after not finishing it the first time. got to admit I didn't get around to Felix Krull though. I liked it, but I didn't got to finish it back then

wew

Zettel's Traum?

maybe Dr. Faustus

schimmelreiter by storm.

Mein Tagebuch uezs

Is it actually good or Murakami good? The cover got my attention but it was on a huge advert so I immediately lost interest again.

>no one barely mention any German novel

This board just gets worse and worse.

I'll say The man without qualities by Robert Musil.

Maybe actually read the thread you fucking nigger

Death of Virgil by Broch
Radetzky Marsch by Roth
Robert Walser
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge by Rilke
Effi Brest by Fontane
just things that I think weren't mentioned yet

Siddhartha - herman hesse
a journey to the east - herman hesse
obligatory mein kamph - my man adolf

Schmidt sounds like my kind of guy, although my parlor german probably won't be able to handle all the neologisms.

In Stahlgewittern - Ernst Jünger
Imperium - Christian Kracht
Unterm Rad - Hermann Hesse

Can anyone post some pdfs or epubs here? Some of these are hard to find. I've mostly found clickbait and paywalls for my google searches, and my guess is these are totally fake scams that don't have the file anyway.

libgen
b-ok.org

You should check out the sticky.

Is The Pains of the Young Werther german?
Because I loved it.
I gave my copy to a poor kid who asked me for money in a drunken stupor. This truly happened
[Spoiler]I also gave him 5€ and a bit of wine [/spoiler]

I was just at libgen, the links don't seem to be working and they are all in like spanish. I'm pretty sure I could find the more mainstream authors just about anywhere, Schmidt on the other hand is proving more difficult.

Yes, it is by Herr A. Göth.

mobilism, rutracker

how long would it take to be able to read German novels as a native english speaker?

What you looking for, there's a lot of stuff in German on rutracker

das

About five days

bampen

Die Zamonien - Reihe von
Walter Moers, dem Erfinder des Kapitän Blaubär.
Jedes Buch absolute Weltklasse und fast tragisch dass es nur auf deutsch ist!

I just picked up a copy of The Tin Drum. I guess it's a classic or nearly a classic.

I keep meaning to check this. How is it comparable to Magic Mountain?

I'm very surprised and disappointed by the fact that nobody mentioned Gotfried August Burguer's Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

I honestly think that book is Don Quijote-Tier.

Jospeh and his bros, hands down

First half is p. awesome second half is mostly boring shit that references the first half.

Also: my diary desu.

My favorite German language authors are Thomas Bernhard (recommendations: Alte Meister, Beton), Arno Schmidt (recommendations: Schwarze Spiegel, KAFF). The only worthwhile contemporary German authors are probably Christian Kracht (recommendations: 1979, Die Toten) and Patrick Süskind (recommendations: obviously Das Parfüm, Die Taube). I think Kafka (clumsy prose) and Thomas Mann (boring as hell) are overrated.

Question for all my Arno-lovers: Do you think writing in a similar style is possible?

I feel like Schmidt's style would honestly be great for capturing the stakkato of impressions that make up todas world. Phone, Tv, Computer and between those small flashes of the real world. I'm kinda working on something along those lines right now but I am still very inexperienced and its most likely going to be shit. And yet I would like to know wether or not ya'll think a novel in such a style could be interesting in todays world?

The Babylonian captivity of the church by Martin Luther.

For a recent book, I was very much impressed with Menasse's Die Hauptstadt - some elements are clumsy (that whole weird Vatican assassin crap that goes nowhere at all), but the rest is great.

I agree on the Moers books, they have been translated to English, but they didn't make as big of a splash unfortunately. They are among the least Tolkien derivative fantasy there is.

All the other recommendations in this thread are embarrassing High School tier.

Some things not usually mentioned:
Sebald's Austerlitz (more successful in the English-speaking world for some reason, got lots of important US/UK awards, none from Germany). Die Ausgewanderten is also great but less 'grand'.

Safranski's Goethe - Kunstwerk des Lebens is probably the best recent Goethe biography, highly readable too. If you want more contemporary sources Eckermann's Gespräche mit Goethe are a lot of fun to read!

And your dick

*adolph

Any novel by Kafka

Not that guy, but I agree that he's one of the greatest authors to do the job. Have you read any of his novellas? The short form suits him better imo.

Hermann Hesse comes to mind, other than that, Momo and The Neverending Story by Michael Ende are really good books originally meant for children, but you can still enjoy them as a grownup.

Strunk is probably comparable to Murakami, a entertaining and easy read. Kehlmann can be interesting every now and then, but mostly bores me desu.

his short-stories are better imo

If any of you guys like historical novels try "Die Brücke von Alcantara" by Frank Baer (actual spelling, not Bär). In my humble opinion perhaps the best historical novel I have ever read, and I know pretty much all the best. It is such a shame it has never got the attention it deserves and that is is only available in German.

I'd also recommmend Hand G. Bentz with "Gute Nacht Jakob" and "Zwei Töchter auf Pump", two super comfy lighter novels that gives you an idea about life in Germany before WW1 and during the Wirtschaftswunderjahre after WW2. Gute Nacht Jakob used to one of my favourite books - about a young boy and his pet crow.

"Hans G. Bentz" I meant, not Hand

Oher humerous German book (yes, there is such athing) that I can recommend are "Vater sein dagegen sehr" by Wolf Biernath (young aspiring but failing writer is suddenly saddled with his POW brother's two kids) and "13 alte Esel" by by Ursula Bruns.

If you like action and adventure try nazi ace and airmarshall Ernst Udet's "Mein Fliegerleben". C. C. Bergius has also written a bunch of great pilot (Die Straße der Piloten) and action (Der Agent/Der Rebell) novels.

The fact that there's only one mention of Thomas Bernhard and WG Sebald speaks volumes about the completely brainless nature of this reprehensible philistine image board

...

Joseph and His Brothers
The Death of Virgil
The Man Without Qualities
Austerlitz
The Emigrants
Correction
Extinction
Bottom's Dream
The Glass Bead Game
Mephisto
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge
Amerika
Billiards at Half-Past Nine
Berlin Alexanderplatz
The Sorrows of Young Werther
Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship
Clara (by schelling)
Hyperion

Sebald is mentioned quite a lot in German threads, maybe you should lurk more :^)

He wasn't a Nazi ace, he was a WW1 ace and later Göring's frog boy. I'm confused you could mix that up if you've read it.

German here. If you only have basic language skills read Krabat by Otfried Preussler. It is meant for children (late elementary school) but the style easily passes for Hemingwayan subtleness.
If you are more familiar with German read "Faserland", "1979" and "Ich werde hier sein im Sonnenschein und im Schatten"(in that order), all by Christian Kracht.
Something mid-level between those two is "Tschick" by Wolfgang Herrndorf.

>"Tschick" by Wolfgang Herrndorf

I think I read that in middle school. Was there a gay dude somewhere in there?

yes. One of the protagonists is gay I think; haven't read the book though.

It's comfy in a way it shouldn't be.

Ungar, Hesse, Mann (both Heinrich and Thomas), Hyperion (Hölderlin), Döblin

>stick with Kafka
Whew lad