Reader discussion: Peter Schlemihl

Public reader discussion about Peter Schlemihl in the WeRead Catalog by Adelbert von Chamisso.

Die besten deutschen Bücher

By KindSparrow

Ich bin mit Deutsch nicht wirklich aufgewachsen und merke, dass es mir wahrscheinlich gut tun würde, mehr auf Deutsch zu lesen. Gleichzeitig hab ich aber keinen Bock auf Übersetzungen – ich lese zum Beispiel amerikanische/englische Sachen lieber direkt auf Englisch. Daher suche ich Empfehlungen für richtig gute deutsche Bücher. Am meisten würde ich mich über Gegenwartsliteratur freuen, aber Klassiker gehen auch, nur bitte nicht so alte Sprache, dass ich als Nicht-Muttersprachler da gar nicht durchblicke.

My Top 30 of German Language Novels

By rhyme_mirror1996

Over the years I’ve gone through a bunch of German novels and novellas—sometimes with translations, sometimes in the original. A lot of it feels pretty dark and heavy/philosophical, but then you also get some really odd, kind of fantasy-ish stuff. Most of the writers are German, though I’ve also included people who write in German but aren’t from Germany. Anyway, these are the ones I keep coming back to: - Hermann Hesse - Siddhartha (1922) - Thomas Mann - Der Tod in Venedig (1912) - Juli Zeh - Unterleuten (2016) - Franz Kafka - Die Verwandlung (1915) - Alfred Döblin - Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929) - Stefan Zweig - Schachnovelle (1942) - Hermann Hesse - Der Steppenwolf (1928) - Thomas Mann - Buddenbrooks (1901) - Juli Zeh - Nullzeit (2012) - Patrick Süskind - Das Parfum (1985) - Klaus Mann - Mephisto (1936) - Franz Kafka - Der Process (1925) - Hermann Hesse - Die Morgenlandfahrt (1932) - Thomas Mann - Doktor Faustus (1947) - Juli Zeh - Spieltrieb (2004) - Erich Kästner - Das doppelte Lottchen (1949) - Arthur Schnitzler - Traumnovelle (1926) - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (1774) - Hermann Hesse - Narziss und Goldmund (1930) - Thomas Mann - Der Zauberberg (1924) - Johanna Spyri - Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre (1880) - Nino Haratischwili - Die Katze und der General (2018) - Adelbert von Chamisso - Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (1814) - Heinrich Mann - Professor Unrat (1905) - Heinrich Böll - Billard um halb zehn (1960) - Robert Musil - Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften (1943) - Erich Maria Remarque - Im Westen nichts Neues (1929) - Theodor Fontane - Effi Briest (1896) - B. Traven - Der Schatz der Sierra Madre (1927) - Karl May - Der Schatz im Silbersee (1894)

the “cannibalism canon” - what makes a “consumption story” (to you)?

By bluewindow

CW: i’m gonna talk about the idea of cannibalism as a metaphor for stuff. tldr at the end. okay so… i think i’m just spiraling into a “why do i keep reading stuff about immortality/identity/body stuff” phase? i stopped reading the european gothic classics in order so i could re-read dune before the second movie drops this april. right before that, i’d been reading the devil’s elixirs, peter schlemihl, melmoth the wanderer, melmoth-adjacent stuff like the wandering jew, and the last unicorn was basically my whole childhood favorite for some reason. so a lot of what i was chewing on was immortality and “not really human but also not exactly monster” type beings/ideas. then around that same time i watched saltburn and poor things, so now it feels like body horror + identity + parenthood/creation + who gets to have agency vs. who’s “owned” or transformed + desire… all got dumped into the same pile. fast forward like two months and in the last few weeks i’ve been bulldozing through the beastars manga, started chainsaw man, listened to ethel cain, and read under the skin, kiss me first, and bones & all—partly because i wanted to see how different writers/directors handle the same kinds of stories. i’m thinking about reading exquisite corpse and tender is the flesh too, and even some stuff i swore i’d never touch again. honestly things have been getting worse since last time i checked in. so my question: what stories would you actually call “cannibal” stories (even if they’re not literal), and more importantly… why? emphasis on the why, because i’m way more curious about how different creators frame the idea than about which ones do it “better.” like, to me, single white female feels like a consumption story. brideshead revisited and the talented mr. ripley too. sharp objects. the purge and when we were animals. if the idol hadn’t been as messy as it was, it probably would’ve landed in the same category for me. tldr: what makes something a “consumption” story to you? is it cannibalism/vampirism as metaphors for desires society won’t accept (queerness, addiction, feminine sexual agency, etc.)? or is it more about economics/race/other systems of oppression? what about stories that don’t have any physical violence at all? do you notice differences based on author gender, background, whatever? and what’s the biggest thing you personally take away—more temperance, rejection, acceptance, release, something else? i can’t stop thinking about this, and i’d love to hear what everyone thinks.