The Blue Book
by Erich Kästner
Description
After Kästner was prohibited from writing by the Nazi Government and had to witness the burning of his own books he decided to keep a secret diary while pursuing two targets: on the one hand he wanted to keep records of life in Nazi Germany during the war. Secondly, he planned to collect notes and sketches in order to write a novel about the “Third Reich” once the war was over. For these purposes Kästner used a blank book with a blue binding – a dummy that had been produced by his publisher. This book he filled with two different contents, starting from both sides at the same time. One part consisted of the war diary. To read the other part you had to turn the book around. The Blue Book was openly hidden in Kästner’s book shelf: in-between 4,000 other titles. Kästner concentrated on the years 1941, 1943 and 1945 and thus covers three decisive turning points in WWII. Apart from the historical events his main focus was on the people he met during these years – their fate, jokes told behind closed doors in the bars and pubs of Berlin. On the other hand, his novel material turned out to be the basis for a book he never wrote. While having depicted Berlin in his famous novel FABIAN (1931) as a “madhouse”, in the Blue Book he described it as a “penitentiary”. In the end Kästner failed to finish his great novel about the “Third Reich”, because, as he put it himself, the atrocities of Nazi Germany went beyond any means of artistic depiction.
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Atrium Verlag | Arche Literatur Verlag | WooW Books
Atrium Verlag was founded 1935 in Switzerland in order to be able to continue publishing Erich Kästner's work, who was by then a forbidden author in the so-called Third Reich. Since the beginning Kästner's children's books are a world-wide success story and continue to fascinate readers in more than 25 countries all over the world. Moreover, he has written famous poem collections and adult novels reaching a broad audience. Atrium has started to publish more children's books that share Kästner's spirit and instantly connect with our young readers. Furthermore, Atrium publishes important contemporary fiction, mystery and non-fiction. WooW Books is focussed on children's books for readers aged 6-11, ranging from timeless classics to modern adventures and unconventional stories. As the name suggests, the program stands for special and surprising children´s literature that conjures a »wow-feeling« while reading. Arche Literatur Verlag is a traditional literary publisher that started in the 1940s with authors such as Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Max Frisch and Gottfried Benn. Today Arche publishes novels by outstanding international and German writers, telling stories about the rich variety of human relationships. Arche aims to reach women readers of all ages, both through content and through clear cover designs. The core of the brand is the “rich variety of human relationships” – deliberately targeting a female readership that feels addressed and entertained in a unique way by Arche.
View all titlesBibliographic Information
- Publisher Atrium Verlag
- Orginal LanguageGerman
- ISBN/Identifier 9783855350193
- Pages432
- ReadershipGeneral
- Publish StatusPublished
- Original Language TitleDas Blaue Buch
- Copyright Year2019
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