The New York Times Book Review published a review of a translation of Hans Fallada's 1947 novel Every Man Dies Alone (Jeder stirbt für sich allein - translation by the incomparable Michael Hofmann). In the same review it was announced that Melville House is re-releasing two other classic novels by Fallada: Little Man, What Now? (Kleiner Mann, was nun?) and The Drinker (Der Trinker).
Kleiner Mann, was nun?, released in 1932 as the Weimar Republic was collapsing, was a world-wide publishing sensation. In Germany, it went through 43 printings in one year and rights were sold for 11 languages. In the US it was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection; a Hollywood feature film was made in 1934 (with Margaret Sullavan as Lämmchen).
Kleiner Mann, was nun? is one of the best novels reflecting the middle class Angst of social and financial ruin in the face of an economic crisis. The novel's protagonist is a white-collar worker who loses his job, and soon looses his dignity as he and his young family become homeless. That was in 1932, and the title poses a question - What now? - that was brutally answered the following year. Now we have entered into a new phase of middle class Angst, as millions are losing their employment and retirement savings. Is it just a coincidence that the lead front-page article in the same New York Times edition was the story of a corporate executive forced to work as an hourly laborer mopping floors and cleaning urinals?
One could not have picked a better time to release these novels of Hans Fallada.
See this related post on Hans Fallada in the Third Reich.
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