Criminal Sonnets

Ludwig RubinerProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 21K words
Chapters: 3

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Kriminal-Sonette by Friedrich Eisenlohr, Livingstone Hahn, and Ludwig RubinerAuthor: Rubiner, Ludwig, 1881-1920,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Oct 18, 2014

Editor's review

This Kriminal-Sonette is a set of crime-themed sonnets co-written by the German Expressionist poet Ludwig Rubiner, released as a free e-book by Project Gutenberg. The work sets the strict sonnet form against images of crime, interrogation, death, and other dark sides of city life, creating a tension between form and content; it is a small but intriguing entry point into early twentieth-century German avant-garde poetry. It is short, making it suitable as supplementary reading for an Expressionism unit in a German literature course, and equally suitable for readers interested in formal experiments in poetry to dip into at leisure. Note that the original is in German, so readers should ideally have basic German reading ability, or be willing to work through it alongside a translation and reference tools; the poems also depict crime and death, and are best read with an awareness of stylistic experiment rather than with the expectation of a popular detective story.

Who it's for

A good fit for

German majors needing supplementary reading for Expressionist poetry
Poetry readers interested in the sonnet form and how its subject matter can be varied
Beginners studying early twentieth-century German avant-garde literature
Readers used to public-domain e-books who want low-cost access to German originals

Not a good fit for

Readers with no German at all who are unwilling to use reference tools or translations
Readers expecting a complete detective plot or crime story
Readers who prefer light, casual reading and have little patience for experimental poetic form

Reading tips

Read through once first to take in the rhythm and imagery, then look up words poem by poem; don't expect to grasp every allusion in one pass.
Read alongside an anthology of German Expressionist poetry from the same period to observe shared features of subject matter and syntax.
Read the German aloud to experience the sound of the sonnet form under a crime theme.
After reading, try rewriting one poem in Chinese to test whether you have grasped the structural essentials of the original.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in German or English? What language level is needed?

The original is in German and it is a public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg. Readers with basic German grammar and vocabulary can read it directly; beginners are advised to use a dictionary or a parallel translation, first grasping the core imagery of each poem and then returning to the details of meter and syntax.

Are crime sonnets detective stories?

No. They are closer to poetic experiments that use crime, death, interrogation, and other dark sides of city life as imagery, with the emphasis on tension between form and language rather than on the progression of a case. Readers opening it in expectation of a mystery novel may be disappointed; it is better read as Expressionist poetry.

Is the e-book long? How should reading be scheduled?

As a set of sonnets, it is short and suited to reading in sessions. Try reading two or three poems at a time, leaving time to look up words and reflect; you can also read through once to get the overall tone, then choose the poems that struck you most for close reading, without feeling obliged to finish it in one sitting.

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About the author

Ludwig Rubiner Author · German · 1881–1920

Ludwig Rubiner (1881–1920) was a German Expressionist writer and poet. His works carry a strong current of social criticism, engaging with the social problems of his time and expressing a critical stance through literature. Two of his works are held in this collection: Kriminal-Sonette and Das himmlische Licht: Gedichte. The former presents its material in sonnet form, while the latter is a poetry collection; both reflect his poetic output. Because public information is limited, details of his life and the full scope of his writings are difficult to describe in depth. On the evidence of the works available, however, Rubiner's writing forms a distinctive personal style poised between Expressionist poetry and critical subject matter, offering a concrete point of entry into German Expressionist literature of the early twentieth century.