GERMAN STORIES AND TALES

The first of a projected series of national stories and tales, with Spanish and French volumes to come, the present collection draws from the writings of eminent German writers, mainly of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is gemutlichkeit and sentiment in such stories as Herman Hense's nostalgic recall of a young man's summer vacation in his old village; there is brief, pointed humor in Johann Hebel's tale, Kannitverstan. Tales of horror and the supernatural are represented by Clemens Brentano and Hugo von Hoffmanethal; a story of a dog's devotion is found in Krambambuli. Love and the emotions it draws forth receives most attention in most varied form, from the simple tale of an unexpected reunion to the complexities of Death in Venice. Swiss and Austrian writers are included. A war story concerning a Jew and Ernst Weiss' description of a heart operation in Cardiac Suture lend notes of contemporariness and realism to a collection predominantly romantic in tons, in which narratives of folk art quality stand beside a few complex works such as Kafka's Interesting timbre. Plus study material.