The multi-layered allegorical masterpiece that prefigured the rise of National Socialism. A teasing lightness of tone pervades this fable-like short novel about two lovers who, during a summertime idyll in the Swedish countryside, encounter a crying young girl running for her life from a children's home run by a sadistic headmistress. The lovers take the girl back to her parents, but the fact remains: the mistress's grip gets more crushing every time one of her charges tries to slip out of it. Catsle Gripsholm is one of the undisputed classics of modern German literature-a parable of devastating beauty and malice, as exuberant and lyrical in its descriptions of nature and pastoral innocence as it is bitter and undermining in its contempt for the Nazi regime that forced the author into exile, publicly burned his books, and persecuted him until his early death.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
A teasing lightness of tone as the narrator and his mistress playfully make love in the bland Swedish countryside entices the reader into a summertime idyll. But, wandering forth one day from their suite in a storybook castle, the lovers apprehend a tearstained little girl running for her life. She has broken out of the children's home on the other side of the lake, presided over by a sadistic headmistress whose grip grows more crushing the moment one of her charges tries to slip out of it. The two learn from the child her mother's whereabouts and contrive to take her there. These are the bare bones of a narrative that is in fact a parable for the evil threatening Germany in 1935. The author, a polemical journalist during the last days of the Weimar Republic, chose in this, his only novel, to write about the pleasures of wine and women and the gratifications of friendship, and to do so in prose so luminous and exuberant that the bitterness of real life in the children's home seems an intrusion. He has given us characters of wit and charm, who, even though they rescue one forlorn child, are powerless against the rising tide of horror.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Language Notes
Text: English, German (translation)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A marvellous classic love story.,
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This review is from: Castle Gripsholm (Paperback)
Tucholsky shows that he can write in a gentle, almost pastel-colored style. A marvellous book, well worth the read.
4.0 out of 5 stars
nice book,
By Randy Loo (Haifa) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Castle Gripsholm (Paperback)
It's hard to translate such a book from its original language (German) yet a fine job has been done.
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