Product Description
Young Henry of Navarre traces the life of Henry IV from the King's idyllic childhood in the mountain villages of the Pyrenees to his ascendance to the throne of France. Heinrich Mann's most acclaimed work is a spectacular epic that recounts the wars, political machinations, rival religious sects, and backstage plots that marked the birth of the French Republic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

exceptional
This is by far the most wonderful book I have ever read and I read a lot of books.. It is so well written, so touching, the characters are so well defined, so many twists and turns, I could not put the book down. Even after I finished reading it, I felt like I will never read something that will have such a profound impact on my soul. If you read this great book, you will love Henry of Navarre, you will connect with him and want to know more about him. That's why I bought and read "Henry, King of France" by the same author, after I read this and it made the same impression on me. They are both exceptional books.

Excellent
I became fascinated with this era in history after seeing the excellent movie Queen Margot again, and reading Susan Carroll's The Dark Queen and wanted something a bit more substantial. This book, found at a brooklyn stoop sale, did not disappoint...

One of the best historical fiction novels I've ever read. Expansive, engaging and intelligent; the book only lacks a deep emotional layer and connection with Henry. Within the beauty of the book, you feel for his plight, you cheer for him, but ultimately Henry remains a figure from history, elusive and somewhat distant. Enigmatic, as perhaps the author intended... ... Read more

Product Description
First published in 1918, this is an indictment of the Wilhelmine regime and a warning against the joint elevation of militarism and commercial values. Diederich Hessling, embodiment of the corrupt society in which he moves and his progression through life forms the central theme of this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

In the Hog Wallow, the Fattest Boar is King
Wilhelmine Germany, at the threshold of the 20th C, was truly a malodorous 'Schweinpferch' -- at least as depicted in Heinrich Mann's novel 'Der Untertan', published in 1918 -- and the grossest boar (boor? bore?) in the pen was the Man of Straw (the English Title) Diederich Hessling, clearly the embodiment of the cultural corruption of his milieu. Hessling is possibly the most despicable principal character in any novel I've ever read, though he'd have some competition from Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry. Both fictional 'heros' are blustering cowards, kiss-up/kick-down opportunists, sexual bullies, vulgar, greedy, loveless, and hypocritical blowhards of religious piety. There's a strong resemblance between 'Man of Straw' and the later works of Sinclair Lewis, both in style and structure. Like 'Elmer Gantry' and 'Babbitt', Man of Straw is the life story of one dreadfully flawed individual up to a certain point of characterological apotheosis. Both authors are scornfully satirical, not only of their principal characters but also of the scoundrels and fools that surround them. Heinrich Mann paid a higher price for his outspoken bitterness toward his crass society; he was briefly imprisoned and then permanently exiled (and to Southern California, alas!) while Lewis was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature.

Diederich Hessling is the son of a modest paper-maker in a city regarded as a bastion of liberal opposition to the Hohenzollern monarchy. Diederich aspires to 'succeed' beyond the expectations of his small wealth and subservient social status, and he does, with a certain amount of dumb luck, either despite or because of his utter lack of redeeming human qualities. That's the plot; I don't intend to reveal more. It's the procession of swinish co-actors, friends and foes being interchangeable, and the unexpected depths of ignominy to which they stoop, that make the book worth reading. As a bonus for the reader, the novel ends catastrophically, picturesquely, with some sense of the impending 'Götterdammerung' of Wilhelmine Germany.

Four years older than his brother Thomas, Heinrich Mann was not the complex, conflicted word-artist Thomas Mann was. He was braver and more clear-sighted, however, foreseeing the calamitous future of postwar German culture far sooner than conservative Thomas, and his novels are more less ponderous, more energetic in narrative, more readable even if arguably less profound philosophically. He's best known in the English world for his novel 'Professor Unrat", on which the famous film "The Blue Angel" was based. This Penguin edition translation is reasonably representative of Mann's prose style.

a society at war against itself
MAN OF STRAW is a politically committed satire against the upper middle-classes in the time of the empire of William II (Kaiser Wilhelm, 1859 - 1941, the German emperor and king of Prussia from 1888 to 1918who asserted Germany's claim to world leadership and was made to abdicate at the end of World War I, at the time when this novel was written). As such, Man of Straw describes the kind of conditions in European society which led to World War I.

The novel's antihero Dr Diederich Hessling is the son of a small factory owner in the small town of Netzig. He is described as the archetype of the mediocre but "serviceable" loyal subject, and the negative journey that traces his development towards maturity and social recognition constitutes an indictment of the kind of citizen created by authoritarian Power in a time of increased commercialist and military values.

The action takes place in the 1890s, and even though the question of the origins of the Great War is still debated nowadays, it does much to expose the perilousness of the ideas that were taking root at the time. Diederich's morally reprehensible acts since childhood are his best asset to grow and prosper in society. His final oration on the occasion of the erection of a monument to the Emperor in town is a celebration of Germany's right to mastery of the sea. From the historical point of view, the novel is therefore an accurate reflection of the relevance of the threatening transformation of the relations between the states and the (arms) industry that had been taking place since the Industrial Revolution. Governments needed not so much the actual output of weapons, but the capacity to produce them on a wartime scale, if the occasion arose. This new and complicated state of affairs went hand in hand with the development of socialist ideology (with Ferdinand Lassalle in Germany), which was experienced as a source of terror on the part of part of society. The combination of these two novel results of the Industrial Revolution (the industrialisation of war and the arms race on the one hand, and the rise of the socialist and workers movements on the other) combined to produce a terrified moral state in sections of society who sought refuge within the ideological framework of a strong movement, Nationalism.

The role of the press as the link between Authority and the Citizen is originally presented in the novel. The newspapers, even those with a Liberal outlook, such as Netzig's, are fond of including royal anecdotes in their reports, that do much to encourage the belief of a direct, personal relationship between the subjects and the monarch. This over-simplification of affairs results in the citizens' readiness to wage war against England on the basis of trivial anecdotes in gossip columns: "We needed a strong fleet against England, which must be absolutely smashed; it was the deadliest enemy of the Emperor. And why? In Netzig they knew all about it. Simply because His Majesty had once, in a lively mood, given the Prince of Wales a friendly kick in a tempting portion of his anatomy." These flippant explanations, and the inevitable suspicious of England's commercial power, are the means that lead to a re-interpretation of history and national hatred. "I hate England as only Frederick the Great hated that nation of thieves and tradesmen," says Diederich. But the fact is that he had not particularly cared about these sentiments until the time of the introduction of the Army Bill that seeked to augment Germany's naval power. The sentiments of the loyal subject are therefore both constant and voluble: they seek to satisfy the whims of Authority, even if Authority changes its mind, and in order to know Authority's mental state - which is so necessary in order to know one's own opinions - the role of the press is priceless. As a matter of fact, in his zeal for impersonating the mind of the monarch, Diederich goes so far as to seek to anticipate the Emperor's ideas, which results in a comic series of events during the middle part of the novel.

The originality of the novel is also present in the depiction of the working classes and the Social Democrats in general "the men without a country", who are by no means seen as an unempowered group. The majority of the workers in Diederich's factory are politically committed and mature enough to see their chances to take part in parliamentary and power politics. The most serious thematic thread in the novel actually deals with the secret pact between the socialist workers and the nationalist patriots to outdo the middle-class Liberals in Parliament. This way, the German educated Liberals are seen as the true victims of the state of affairs in the town, previously a stronghold of Liberalism. The novel ends as a bitter criticism of the passivity and lack of adequate mental and practical resolution of this sector of society, that allowed itself to withdraw and be teased off all its power in the face of the progress made by radicals on both the right and the left. It is for this cause that the death of old Buck, the Liberal patriarch of the town, is presented at the very end of the novel and constitutes its conclusion. In his deathbed, his soul seems to suffer remorse for his failure to save educated, middle-class Liberalism from the trial that it suffered in Netzig and in this way Heinrich Mann conveys to us his belief that men's souls are not saved on ideas alone, but on ideas as combined with successful action, both in the family and social spheres.

Eric Hobsbawm describes the kind of historical background of the novel with clarity: "In practical terms, the danger was not that Germany concretely proposed to take Britain's place as a global power, though the rhetoric of German nationalist agitation readily struck the anti-British note. It was rather that a global power required a global navy, and Germany therefore set out (1897) to construct a great battle-fleet, which had the incidental advantage of representing not the old German states but exclusively the new united Germany, with an officer corps which represented not Prussian "junkers" or other aristocratic warrior traditions, but the new middle classes, that is to say the new nation:" That is to say the Hesslings and the whole bourgeois society which seemed unable to disentangle itself from the aspect of war that has been a feature of world history since that time.

A memorable section of the novel, in chapter V,involves the representation of a play "written" by the wife of the town's governor, during which a parody of the creative process is presented by putting it at the level of this woman's diminished abilities: "Afterwards one does't know how it happens. It is worked out so mysteriously in one's mind!" So-called bourgeois art is this way criticized, since the creative gift is in the opinion of the characters mysteriously bequeathed by military success: "If my great ancestor had not won the battle of Kröchenwerda, who knows if I should have written "The Secret Countess"?"

A more auspicious view of art is presented by old Buck, who in this section presents the conformist character of his aspirations, when he compares himself with the artistic pictures in the theatrebuilding -a description of a particular style and time, aiming at permanence but not at reproduction: "I suceeded in having our modern street plan altered in order to save this house and this paintings. They may only have the value of descriptive records. But a picture which lends permanence to its own times and manners may hope for permanence itself." From this moment of acknowledged defeat towards the end, the novel loses some of its momentum, but overall does not fail to represent something more than just a representation of a certain time and place, since its alluring suggestiveness manages to encompass issues that are present to us in our times.

This book can be read together with:
J. P. Taylor, The Struggle for Mastery in Europe (1954)
Paul Kennedy, The Rise of the Anglo-German Antagonism 1860 - 1914 (1980)
Robert Wohl, The Generation of 1914 (1979)

Mann warns of the dangers of blind nationalism
Heinrich Mann's novel paints a portrait of the Second Reich through the eyes of Diedrich Hessling, an unconsequential little man who bullied his way into society using superpatriotism (he even curls his mustache so that it resembles the emperor's) and nationalism as a crutch, finally gaining status as a prominent conservative businessman, in the process being metamorphosed into a mini-Kaiser.His struggle was a reflection of the Second Reich's attempt at world domination through nationalism and Social Darwinism.

His use of patriotism to the emperor was used when he manipulates someone into stating that the Hohenzollerns were Jews, accusing him of lese-majeste.At that man's trial, Diedrich is accurately portrayed as "an average man, with a commonplace mind,... without courage so long as things are going badly for him and tremendously self-important as soon as they had turned in his favour"

Diedrich doesn't hesitate to make alliances when expedient and to boost his star higher, such as his association with his nemesis, Napoleon Fischer, a Social Democrat machinist at his factory.On one occasion, to cover up his own mistake in miscalculating the dimensions of the New Patent Cylinder Machine, he bribed Fischer to sabotage the machine so that he had a case to return it.Later, the two agreed to help each other in their political ambitions.

Thus Diedrich used his patriotism and anti-Social Democratic stance as ways to boost himself onward and upward, yet willing to make alliances with his alleged enemies, similar to the way Bismarck used nationalism as a tool to rally the Liberals against his wars against Austria and the south German states against France, all for his own personal power.

The importance of Wilhelm II's attempted surpassing of Bismarck must be reiterated.Diedrich's colleague warns people of the danger of any man emulating Bismarck:"Weak and pacifistic by nature, he becomes noisy and dangerous.Without a doubt the victories of his vanity will serve commercial ends.First his travesty of opinion brings a man to prison for lese-majeste.Afterwards he reaps his profit"So by virtue of the chain rule, Diedrich was in fact emulating Bismarck, making him not only a mini-Kaiser, but also a mini-Iron Chancellor.And this illustrates Mann's criticism of Bismarck's self-motivating political profit, perpetuated in the person of Diedrich.

Mann's novel is a portrait of pre-war Wilhelmine Germany (1888-1914).He thus saw as reasons for Germany's defeat in World War I the blind nationalism of the people and their obedience to the autocratic rule of the Kaiser.It's a warning to be heeded by any nation making rumblings toward war.

Read this book and you will finally be able to understand...
... how Hitler, World War II and the Holocaust could happen. At least that's how I felt after reading it (and I'm German). The book describes the life ofa man named Diederich Häßling, who grows up in pre-WWI Germany. He learns to respect, to love authority unquestioningly, even when it hurts him or is obviously unjust. And when he comes into a position of authority himself, he employs it just as brutally and unjustly. The reader looks on in horrified fascination and thinks: "if people really thought like that, then no atrocity is impossible..."

How Good Was This!!!
This book shows that many people can live from after having cancer, espically lung prison. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An Alternate Translation of "Der Untertan"
"Der Untertan" means 'The Subject' in German. This same novel has been translated and published under the title "Man of Straw". That's the translation I've looked at and reviewed; I haven't seen this translation.

Here's what I wrote about the other translation:
Wilhelmine Germany, at the threshold of the 20th C, was truly a malodorous hog wallow -- at least as depicted in Heinrich Mann's novel 'Der Untertan', published in 1918 -- and the grossest boar (boor? bore?) in the pen was the Man of Straw (the English Title) Diederich Hessling, clearly the embodiment of the cultural corruption of his milieu. Hessling is possibly the most despicable principal character in any novel I've ever read, though he'd have some competition from Sinclair Lewis's Elmer Gantry. Both fictional 'heros' are blustering cowards, kiss-up/kick-down opportunists, sexual bullies, vulgar, greedy, loveless, and hypocritical blowhards of religious piety. There's a strong resemblance between 'Man of Straw' and the later works of Sinclair Lewis, both in style and structure. Like 'Elmer Gantry' and 'Babbitt', Man of Straw is the life story of one dreadfully flawed individual up to a certain point of characterological apotheosis. Both authors are scornfully satirical, not only of their principal characters but also of the scoundrels and fools that surround them. Heinrich Mann paid a higher price for his outspoken bitterness toward his crass society; he was briefly imprisoned and then permanently exiled (and to Southern California, alas!) while Lewis was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature.

Diederich Hessling is the son of a modest paper-maker in a city regarded as a bastion of liberal opposition to the Hohenzollern monarchy. Diederich aspires to 'succeed' beyond the expectations of his small wealth and subservient social status, and he does, with a certain amount of dumb luck, either despite or because of his utter lack of redeeming human qualities. That's the plot; I don't intend to reveal more. It's the procession of swinish co-actors, friends and foes being interchangeable, and the unexpected depths of ignominy to which they stoop, that make the book worth reading. As a bonus for the reader, the novel ends catastrophically, picturesquely, with some sense of the impending 'Götterdammerung' of Wilhelmine Germany.

Four years older than his brother Thomas, Heinrich Mann was not the complex, conflicted word-artist Thomas Mann was. He was braver and more clear-sighted, however, foreseeing the calamitous future of postwar German culture far sooner than conservative Thomas, and his novels are more less ponderous, more energetic in narrative, more readable even if arguably less profound philosophically.

An over-the-top view of Kaiser Wilhelm's Germany
This novel is the story of Diederich Hessling, the characteristic man of Wilhelmine Germany. Arrogant, boorish, philistinic, conniving, hypocritical, bullying, cruel, self-important, and ever-impervious to criticism.He is the loyal subject of His Majesty, and he is His Majesty.

Diederich Hessling is raised in Netztig, a small town, by a strict Prussian father and a dotting mother.He is taught to respect authority, hard-work, and traditional values.These lessons are absorbed only so far as they directly benefit the sniveling boy who fears his upright, moral, moralistic father.While at university in Berlin, Diederich fails to absorb the cosmopolitan luster of the capital and associates with beer-swilling, pompous, nationalist fraternity brothers.He graduates with a doctorate in chemistry and a knowledge of how to exploit people and twist situations for his gain.

Upon his return home to petty Netzig, he takes over the family factory and is determined to do things his own way.(Just like the young Kaiser when he assumed power in 1888/1890.)In his quest for wealth and personal power, he double-deals, cheats, lies, and acts shocked at the improprieties of others.He plays the Liberals off the Socialists and the Conservatives, secretly siding with each group.However, his heart remains with the Nationalist camp.He does the bidding of the nobility for scraps of prestige.

As he grows in power, he tramples his Liberal erstwhile allies underfoot, ruining lives without a care.The whole time, he is condescending and self-righteous.On the other hand, he is truckling to the aristocratic gentry.He sews the seeds of discord among Netzig's citizenry, but cares not.It is all in the name of the National cause for His Majesty!Diederich's actions mirror and even presage those of Kaiser Wilhelm, for whom he is practically a doppelganger.

"The Loyal Subject," written by an infamously leftist German author, has been derided as overly political and crass.Its literary merits are debatable.But its depiction of all that was wrong with Wilhelmine society and with Wilhelm himself is worth the read, especially for any student of German history. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Interesting selection of German short stories at a great price
As someone who likes reading short stories and also works of world literature, I have been collecting and reading short stories from various countries and was pleased to come across the immensely affordable Dover Thrift Editions. The book itself may not be of superior quality, but neither is it of inferior quality. The covers are beautiful and the paper quality is not altogether fine [rather flimsy in fact], but once again, it's value for money.

The stories featured in this collection are:
"Death in Venice" - Thomas Mann [translated by Kenneth Burke]
"Flagman Thiel" - Gerhart Hauptmann [translated by Adele S Seltzer]
"In the Penal Colony" - Franz Kafka [translated by Stanley Appelbaum]
"The Golden Pot" - E.T.A. Hoffmann [translated by Thomas Carlyle]
"How Old Timofei Died With a Song" - Rainer Maria Rilke [translated by Stanley Appelbaum]
"The Earthquake in Chile" - Heinrich Von Kleist [translated by Stanley Appelbaum]
"Lieutenant Gustl" - Arthur Schnitzler [translated by Stanley Appelbaum]
"The Story of the Just Casper and Fair Annie" - Clemens Brentano [translated by Carl F Schreiber]

I'd highly recommend this collection to fans of the genre and those who like world literature.
... Read more

Product Description
In Henry, King of France, the sequel to Young Henry of Navarre, the compelling epic of Henry IV's reign over France is followed to its tragic destiny. The novel recounts two decades of chaos and war that led to the triumphant founding of the French Republic and culminated in the King's assassination in 1589. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A must have for those that enjoy films
Many a time I needed someone to tell me when my shoe was untied, or many other obvious things in front of my face that I just do not notice.Well it is the same will films; you get so absorbed in the main message or the dialog and miss many subtle currents that are woven into the film. At other time, you are not sure what the characters are saying or thinking as you would in a book.This (Lorrimer Publishing, London) series of film scripts and fill in those missing items and then some.

Until the advent of multi DVD versions with voice over narration, there was no efficient way to enjoy what the film did not overtly say. In addition, the dialog was difficult to go back. Yet even with this advantage, there is still something more tactile about having a book.

This book contains many stills from the film to allow you to take the time to see what is really happening. The Pictures can also be looked at as souvenirs. There is an excellent introduction by Josef Von Sternberg himself. There are stage directions and explanations of how the dialog is to be presented.

Now sit back read and enjoy (or at least get engrossed).

Lola "singing": Men Cluster to me
Like moths around a flame
And if their wings burn
I know I'm not to blame

The pictures on Page (88) tell it all.
... Read more

Product Description
Fortunately for us, brothers Heinrich and Thomas Mann remained devoted and eloquent correspondents even while disagreeing passionately on matters literary, political, philosophical, and personal. In their correspondence, set against a shifting backdrop of locations in Europe and America, mundane concerns blend easily with astonishing artistic and critical insights. That these irrepressible siblings were among the giants of twentieth-century letters gives their exchanges unique literary and historical fascination. Beginning in Germany and Italy at the turn of the century, the letters document with disarming immediacy the brothers' views on aesthetics, politics, and the social responsibility of the writer, as well as their mutual jealousy, admiration, rivalry, and loyalty. The devastating rift caused by Thomas's support of Germany during World War I and his brother's utter opposition to the war took many years to mend, but they found their way back to friendship in the 1920s. After Hitler rose to power, both writers ultimately sought refuge in the United States. The letters offer a moving portrayal of their struggle, as novelists and socially engaged intellectuals, to bear witness to the cataclysmic historical changes around them and to their experience of exile, in Europe and then in America. This first complete English translation of their correspondence is a dramatic human dialogue and a major literary event. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Letters between 2 Famous Brothers& GOOD GERMANS!!
Two German brothers who came of age in the early 1900's to become world wide literary and historic figures wrote extentively to each other for nearly fifty years. They discuss just about anything two brothers can, and by the Great War were not only literary, but also serious political sibling rivals. Heinrich was the international socialist condemning the war, Thomas supporting the war as an extention of the great German Kultur, of which he was a formost spokesman. They gradually made up, and both expressed their total contempt for the Nazi gang as early as the 1920's. By this time (1929), Thomas won the Nobel Prize, and became the more famous and financially successful. By the late 1930's, they bothmoved to the USA, where Thomas, by then a huge world wide anti-Nazi figure, supported his older brother spiritually and finanically. A unique book of letters between two great 20th Century GOOD GERMANS, though today Heinrich is relatively unknown, compared to his Olympian younger brother. ... Read more