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notgettingenough 's Reviews > Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist
Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist
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My booty on a recent trip to Berlin was more yarn than print, but this was one of the books that made it into my bag for the trip home.
I bought it from St George's English bookshop and if you would like more detail about the wonderful bookshops in Berlin, I wrote something about them .
It has a quote on the back from The Times Literary Supplement
It's a comparison I'm looking forward to making for myself, having acquired the relevant Isherwood volume, also a slim affair, at the same time. One can certainly agree that Kästner has an eerie feel for what is happening in Germany and what the outcome will be, an outcome he knows will be far more widespread. In 1931 he is well aware that he is watching the downfall, the disintegration, the degeneration of Europe. It's horrifying to be aware, reading it now, and seeing the ways in which it compares with Europe now, that there was no hindsight on the author's. He was calling it as he saw it day by day.
Rest here:
I bought it from St George's English bookshop and if you would like more detail about the wonderful bookshops in Berlin, I wrote something about them .
It has a quote on the back from The Times Literary Supplement
Damned for its improper subject matter, Going to the Dogs showed the crumbling Berlin of Christopher Isherwood's stories with something of Isherwood's sharp intelligence, but a far more tragic sense of implication.
It's a comparison I'm looking forward to making for myself, having acquired the relevant Isherwood volume, also a slim affair, at the same time. One can certainly agree that Kästner has an eerie feel for what is happening in Germany and what the outcome will be, an outcome he knows will be far more widespread. In 1931 he is well aware that he is watching the downfall, the disintegration, the degeneration of Europe. It's horrifying to be aware, reading it now, and seeing the ways in which it compares with Europe now, that there was no hindsight on the author's. He was calling it as he saw it day by day.
Rest here:
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
September 24, 2015
– Shelved
September 24, 2015
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modern-lit
September 24, 2015
– Shelved as:
sociology
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Matt
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rated it 5 stars
Sep 24, 2015 09:20AM
I was happy to learn about the uncut/uncensored version of this book, the one Kästner originally wrote, and which I read just the other day. Glad to see this book still has its fans :)
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Matt wrote: "I was happy to learn about the uncut/uncensored version of this book, the one Kästner originally wrote, and which I read just the other day. Glad to see this book still has its fans :)"Don't tell Manny, but I really love reading German literature in English translation. It is a good fit, maybe. I understand this particular translation has always been highly regarded.
I am rather interested to read his biography if it's good and in English.
notgettingenough wrote: "I understand this particular translation has always been highly regarded."I quickly skimmed the first two chapters of the English translation on Amazon (translated by Cyrus Brooks, published by NYRB classics, November 2012). It seems that this is the "censored" version of the book, not the one that Kästner originally wrote and gave to his publisher. For instance one sentence (the one with the wife's underbelly going over the head of the husband and that I tried to translate myself in my review) is missing.
Apart from that it seems the translation is Okay. The Berlin accent that some people talk in is not translated, but that's to be expected.
Matt wrote: "notgettingenough wrote: "I understand this particular translation has always been highly regarded."I quickly skimmed the first two chapters of the English translation on Amazon (translated by Cy..."
All I can say is that's odd, because the note on translation at the beginning of the book specifically discusses the sex and the language used and says that although it is still the highly regarded (I gather) Brooks translation, nonetheless 'all the omitted passages have been restored'.
notgettingenough wrote: "and says that although it is still the highly regarded (I gather) Brooks translation, nonetheless 'all the omitted passages have been restored'. "It's confusing all right. I think the original translation by Brooks was censored somewhat and has now been restored. But it's still a translation of the First Edition (called "Fabian" in German). You can tell by looking at the third chapter. The first subtitle to that chapter should be something like "14 dead in Calcutta". This section (and the character Münzer from that chapter) only appears in "Fabian". The Original Edition by Kästner (who wanted to call the book "Der Gang vor die Hunde" /"Going to the dogs") wasn't published in German until 2012/13 and never was translated apparently.
notgettingenough wrote: "I am rather interested to read his biography if it's good and in English"I just added his autobiography to my TBR. It's the memoir of his childhood in Dresden. It's addressed to "Children and Not-Children", and I suppose it's pretty good, like all of his texts.
I think the significant similarity to Isherwood is time and place. Isherwood an involved tourist whereas Kästner was a product of Germany with the parenting and schooling that shaped his views.
