Romansuche – Page 6

The Trial

December 19, 2016 Novel

The main questions that appear in the head after reading (and during the reading) of this book can be formulated like this: what was it? What is it about? For whom is it? What to do and how to be? Bearing in mind the reputation of Franz Kafka, these are very topical issues, unambiguous answers to which can not be given by any person in the world. Honestly. This novel just shows us the picky bureaucratic machine. The author shows us everything as it is and how it should not be! Oh God, how many are the secret meanings in the book! The world of The Trial is surprisingly ordinary-looking and striking by its everyday life. What can we say about the main hero – Josef K.? He is an ordinary bank officer, a white collar. An ordinary everyman living a quiet and routine life. Josef K. is a man who lives and works, knowing practically nothing about the real life. He is aperson without specific interests and hobbies. A person is both deep and superficial, many people love and respect him. A man who for the time being has not personally faced with a bureaucratic machine in its pure form. It was very symbolic and entertaining to see how our...

The Devil’s Elixirs

December 16, 2016 Gothik novel, Novel

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann is famous German writer, composer and artist. In his work, Hoffmann paid tribute to Romanticism and Occultism, and to a fairy tale for adults, as well as to social satire. His works, bizarre and elegant, truly fascinate showing their amazing and fantastic world. It is one of the most interesting and unusual works of the great writer. A masterpiece of the Gothic novel. The plot. Hundreds of years ago, the devil tempted St. Anthony by offering him to feel an enormous satisfaction, drinking the elixir from his many bottles. St. Anthony managed to fight off the devil, and as a trophy he got several diabolical bottles with an elixir, which were preserved in one of the Capuchin monasteries until the time to which the narrative relates (apparently 17-18 centuries). The monk Medard gives in to dark temptation and tries the drinks. This becomes the first step in the path of his numerous crimes and troubles. If I had the opportunity to live in someone else’s body for one day, I would like to be a monk. I would like to understand this state of mind when you are constantly thinking about sin and saving, when you can pray for hours and and feel enlightened and after...

Twenty-Four Hours in the Life of a Woman

December 14, 2016 Novella

Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, like no other, was able to frankly and at the same time tactfully describe the most intimate experiences of human being. Zweig’s novels have fascinating plots, full of dramatic tension. The writer shows us how defenseless the human heart is, how fatal are human destinies and what a person can do when he or she loves someone. It is a brilliant novella. It tells about the tragedy of a woman who, at her own request, spoiled her life, about her sacrificial love. Frau Wagner is young, rich and beautiful lady. She has a wonderful husband – a successful lawyer, she also has two beautiful children, a good house, but she lacked emotions in her life, she wanted adventures. But, as it is known, any man who wants something can find it! She has everything, carefree and secure life, the help of nurse with children, a caring and loving husband, and social status. It would seem that everything in her life is good, the one thing she has to do is to enjoy the life! But as you know, when everything is good, people get bored and need to find troubles! And Henriette finds. So she finds a young lover. Is it love? Or passion? Only the trouble, it turns...

A Wild Ride Through the Night

December 11, 2016 Novel

A Wild Ride Through the Night is a novel by German writer Walter Moers. The story turned out to be an unusual, unexpected, full of allusions to well-known stories and texts and, at the same time, ironic and grotesque. A dreamy teenager, a twelve-year-old captain, gets trapped in a storm arranged by raging Siamese Twins Tornado, and the only one of the entire crew of the ship remains alive. On the empty deck of the ship brother and sister appear (their names usually do not say at night), who bet on his soul and offer him six tasks to save it, thereby determining the future life and fate of the little brave navigator… He must get into the realm of the dead, but certainly he does not want to, so he bets with Death. Do not die, young Gustave needs to complete six impossible tasks. Now the boy has to save the beauty from the paws of the Dragon, go through a forest full of ghosts, guess the names of the five giants, fight the Most Monstrous of all Monsters, meet himself and eventually get the sixth task. Then begins a whirlwind of adventures and events, meetings and dialogues, which can only be compared with Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis...

Austerlitz

December 8, 2016 Novel

Winfried Georg Sebald is a modern German writer, poet and literary scolar, essayist, teacher of literature in England.