Meta: Eine Erzählung

Carl SternheimProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 72K words
Chapters: 8

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.Meta: Eine Erzählung by Carl SternheimAuthor: Sternheim, Carl, 1878-1942,Language: German, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Dec 28, 2012

Editor's review

Carl Sternheim was a major figure in German Expressionist drama, and this short Meta: A Narrative concentrates his cool dissection of bourgeois moral hypocrisy. The restrained, ironic narrative voice alternates between dialogue and psychological description, giving the reader a distinct sense of early twentieth-century German literature in its transition from realism to modernism. Released free of charge as an electronic text by Project Gutenberg, the German original is clearly presented and makes a suitable introduction to Sternheim's fictional style. A little prior knowledge of Expressionist literary background will help the reader catch the irony and discontinuities in the text. The translationese is slight, and reading in the original better conveys the cold, hard rhythm of its syntax. Overall, this is a public-domain e-book suited to literature students and German learners for study and research rather than to casual readers seeking entertainment.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students of German literature needing a sample of Expressionist prose narrative
Intermediate and advanced German learners hoping to build reading experience with a short original text
Literary researchers interested in early twentieth-century critiques of the bourgeoisie

Not a good fit for

General readers looking for light plotting or romance
Readers with only beginner German who struggle with long sentences and irony

Reading tips

Learn about Sternheim's life and the Expressionist background before starting the text
Read through once for the narrative thread, then a second time marking ironic sentences and adding notes
Read alongside short stories by other Expressionist writers to compare narrative strategies

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 a novel or a play?

The metadata labels it an Erzählung, that is, a narrative work or novella, not a script. Sternheim is known for drama, but this book is prose narrative and should be read as fiction.

How difficult is the German original, and is it suitable for beginners?

The text is early twentieth-century German literature with fairly tight syntax and an ironic edge, which is difficult for beginners. Intermediate to advanced reading ability is recommended, or reading with an annotated edition or a translation alongside.

What are the features of the Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides a free electronic text; this edition is the public-domain German original, convenient for searching, copying, and citing, and suitable for study and research. The reading experience depends on your e-reader software and does not involve physical binding.

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About the author

Carl Sternheim Author · German · 1878–1942

Carl Sternheim (1878–1942) was a German playwright and novelist, born in Leipzig in 1878 and died in Brussels in 1942. A representative figure of German Expressionist drama, he is known for comedies such as Die Hose, Der Snob, 1913 and Das Fossil, which satirize bourgeois morality with sharp, exaggerated and coolly detached prose that exposes the hypocrisy and utilitarianism of the middle class. Beyond the stage, he also wrote novellas and short stories; five of his works are held in the collection, including Meta: Eine Erzählung, Busekow: Eine Novelle, Napoleon: Eine Novelle, Ulrike: Eine Erzählung and Schuhlin: Eine Erzählung. These works often focus on individuals under social norms and moral pressure, and on their growth, told in a concise and ironic style. His novella Napoleon won the Fontane Prize in 1915.