Monthly Archives: February 2013

Foreign Novel Review: Schachnovelle – The Royal Game

One of my favourite authors, this is Zweig’s last work and probably his most well-known – at least in German speaking Europe. Written just before he and his wife committed suicide while in exile from the Nazis in Brazil, Schachnovelle tells the story of a chess game on board a liner from New York to […]

Foreign Novel Review: Jeder Stirbt für sich Allein – Alone in Berlin

Alone in Berlin is to quote the German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, “the literary rediscovery of the century”. Originally written in the autumn of 1946 and in under 4 weeks by the writer Hans Fallada, the novel gives a chilling insight into life under the Nazi regime whilst providing a testament to the endurance of the […]

Foreign Novel Review: Fabian

Fabian, as its author Erich Kästner insisted, is the story of a moralist even though he clearly lives in immoral times. The book depicts Berlin in the moral decay and chaos that epitomised the dying days of the Weimar Republic just before Hitler and the Nazis take power. This is a Berlin, teetering on the […]

Foreign Novel Review: Die Groẞe Hitze oder Die Erretung Österreichs durch den Legationsrat Dr Tuzzi – The Great Heat or How Legationsrat Dr Tuzzi Saved Austria

If you want an insight into Austrian humour (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?) then this is the perfect book. I mentioned to the Austrian friend who gave me the book that it would be a nightmare to translate into English, whereupon he noted that it would be a nightmare to translate it into German. […]

Foreign Film Review: Tirez sur le Pianiste – Shoot the Pianist

The directors behind the French New Wave (la nouvelle vague) had a great love of American movies and Tirez sur le Pianiste is a wonderful pastiche of two great Hollywood genres – gangster movies and film noir. The New Wave was an artistic movement which has had a profound effect on movie making ever since, so […]

Foreign Film Review: Mephisto

Based on the1936 novel by Klaus Mann, the film charts the rise of an actor – Hendrik Hofgen – who sells his soul to the devil (or his incarnation in 1930s Germany, the Nazis) – to become the most celebrated actor of his day, and ably depicts the price he ultimately pays for fame and […]

Foreign Film Review: Les 400 Coups – The 400 Blows

Made in 1959 by François Truffaut, Les 400 Coups is one of the most significant films to come out of the French New Wave. If you’re wondering what the title means, don’t. It’s meaningless in English. In French “faire les 400 Coups” means to get into a lot of trouble, to lead a crazy life, to be a […]

Foreign Film Review: Le Bossu – On Guard

In short, it’s a French swashbuckler movie (think Errol Flynn movie without the tights and set in France at the turn of the 18th century). Being French of course, there’s some nudity and a rather dodgy love story which it gets away with in that way only the French really can. The film stars Daniel […]

Foreign Film Review: La Reine Margot – Queen Margot

La Reine Margot features many of the then leading lights of French cinema, Isabelle Adjani in the title role, Queen Margot, Daniel Auteuil as King Henri of Navarre, Jean-Hugues Anglade as Charles IX and Vincent Perez as Margot’s protestant lover, de la Môle. Though my knowledge of 16th century French history is shaky at best, […]

Foreign Film Review: Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum – The Lost Honour of Katherine Blum

The film is based on a story by one of Germany’s most famous post-war authors, Heinrich Böll. Set in 1975, in The Lost Honour of Katharine Blum, Böll lays bare how the West German police connive with the media to run roughshod over the rights and reputations of individuals in the name of fighting extremism. […]

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