Alfred Doblin - Collected Works, incl. Berlin Alexanderplatz (21 ...

* Alfred Doblin - Collected Works, incl. Berlin Alexanderplatz (21 books)

ALFRED DÖBLIN (1878–1957) was a German novelist, essayist, and doctor, best known for his bold experimentation with narrative form and his engagement with modern urban life. A prolific writer whose œuvre spans more than half a century and a wide variety of literary movements and styles, Döblin emerged as a central figure in German modernism and the Expressionist movement.

Rejecting traditional realism, Döblin sought new new narrative techniques capable of capturing collective experience and the fragmented experience of modernity. He experimented with montage, shifting perspectives, documentary material, and inner monologue. His prose often blends myth, history, journalism, and stream-of-consciousness narration, reflecting his belief that the novel should function as a dynamic, open form rather than a closed, linear narrative. These formal innovations placed him alongside contemporaries such as James Joyce and John Dos Passos in redefining the possibilities of the modern novel.

His most famous work, BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ (1929), stands as an iconic text of the Weimar Republic and a landmark of twentieth-century literature. The novel follows Franz Biberkopf, a recently released prisoner struggling to survive in the chaotic world of Weimar-era Berlin. Through its use of montage, street songs, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and multiple narrative voices, the novel portrays the city itself as a living, overwhelming force.

Beyond this masterpiece, Döblin produced a wide and diverse body of work, including epic novels ranging from 18th century China (THE THREE LEAPS OF WANG LUN , 1915) to the Thirty Years War (WALLENSTEIN , 1920) to the European conquest of South America (THE LAND WITHOUT DEATH , 1938) and to a dystopia of the 27th century (MOUNTAINS OCEANS GIANTS , 1924). NOVEMBER 1918 (1937–1943) is a novel tetralogy about the German Revolution of 1918–1919. The four volumes—Citizens and Soldiers, A People Betrayed, The Troops Return, and Karl and Rosa—together comprise the most significant work from Döblin's period of exile after fleeing the Nazi regime (1933–1945) and represents the culmination of his work in the genre of the historical novel.

Today, Döblin is recognized as a pioneering modernist whose formal daring and social insight reshaped the German novel. In a 1967 essay, Günter Grass declared: "Without the Futurist elements of Döblin's work from Wang Lun to Berlin Alexanderplatz, my prose is inconceivable." Döblin was also an influence on writers such as W.G. Sebald and Bertolt Brecht; as Brecht wrote in 1943, "I learned more about the essence of the epic from Döblin than from anyone else. His epic writing and even his theory about the epic strongly influenced my own dramatic art."


The following books are in PDF or ePUB format as noted:

== NOVELS ==

* A People Betrayed (November 1918, II) [tr. Woods] (Fromm, 1983) – PDF
* The Babylonian Exile, 2 vols. [tr. Godwin] (C. Godwin, 2021) – PDF
* Berlin Alexanderplatz [tr. Hofmann] (NYRB / Penguin, 2018) – ePUB
* Berlin Alexanderplatz [tr. Jolas] (Continuum, 2004) – ePUB
* Citizens and Soldiers (November 1918, I) [tr. Godwin] (Galileo, 2024) – ePUB
* Expect No Mercy, 2 vols. [tr. Godwin] (C. Godwin, 2025) – PDF
* Karl and Rosa (November 1918, III & IV) [tr. Woods] (Fromm, 1983) – PDF
* Mountains Oceans Giants: A Novel of the 27th Century [tr. Godwin] (Galileo, 2021) – ePUB
* The Land Without Death: The Amazonas Trilogy [tr. Godwin] (Galileo, 2022) – ePUB
* The Three Leaps of Wang Lun: A Chinese Novel [tr. Godwin] (NYRB, 2015) – ePUB
* Wadzek's Fight against the Steam Turbine [tr. Thompson] (n.p., 2020) – ePUB
* Wallenstein, 2 vols. [tr. Godwin, 2e] (C. Godwin, 2021) – PDF

== SHORT FICTION ==

* Bright Magic: Stories [tr. Searls] (NYRB, 2016) – ePUB
* The Pilgrim Aetheria [tr. Godwin] (C. Godwin, 2025) – PDF
* Two Women and a Poisoning [tr. Taylor] (Text Publishing, 2021) – ePUB

== VERSE EPIC ==

* Manas: An Epic Poem [tr. Godwin] (Galileo, 2021) – ePUB

== NON-FICTION ==

* German Masquerade: Writings on Politics, Life, and Literature [ed. Godwin] (C. Godwin, 2025) – PDF
* Journey to Poland [tr. Neugroschel] (Paragon, 1991) – PDF

== MISCELLANEOUS ==

* The Cutting Room Floor: Eight Outcast and Orphaned Pieces [ed. Godwin] (C. Godwin, 2024) – PDF
* The Epic Worlds of Alfred Döblin [ed. Godwin] (Galileo, 2024) – ePUB
* Manas: A Play for Voices [tr. & adapted by Chris Godwin] (C. Godwin, 2017) – PDF


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