#ulrich alexander boschwitz

[stoneantler]

Deep into my exhibit research I was paging through Frans Masereel's book The City (available in full at the Anarchist Library) and i thought, huh, I recognize that image....

Turns out it was used for the 2021 English version of Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz's novel The Passenger. Written in 1938, the main character Otto Silbermann, is forced to flee his home due to to attacks on Kristallnacht only to find that he cannot get out of Germany. He begins living on trains looking for a way out. Boschwitz successfully fled German for Australia, only to die when the ship he was taking to the UK was torpedoed by a German submarine. See the cover under the cut.

[sherbertilluminated]

Just finished reading Lessing's comedy Die Juden in preparation for a longpost about Michaelis. In 1754 the theologian writes a critique of the play claiming that it is impossible for the Jewish protagonist, whose unexpected stay at a noble estate helps to foil a robbery scheme among the servants, to be such a well-educated and decent person; his behavior was simply impossible and unrealistic.

Obviously I don't agree with Michaelis assessment, but I don't entirely agree with Mendelssohn's half-joking insinuation that the play is well-meaning but boring. If you go into the play knowing the "twist" that protagonist, whom the script only refers to as der Reisende ("the Traveler") is actually Jewish, the tension rachets up exponentially.

At its most comedic it becomes cringe: against his will, an honored becomes privy to the love affairs and other messy emotions of the household. But it's also terrifying; because he's traveling incognito, he's also exposed to all their worst prejudices under the expectation that he shares them. His motivation becomes clear—he wants to get out, ASAP, without becoming the target of the violent bigotry his hosts have revealed to him. And likewise Michaelis' assertion that the Traveler's behavior is unrealistically noble becomes completely irrelevant under the consideration that the Traveler is on his best behavior. Because he has to be. He's among strangers, in a country where people are apt to blame "the Jews" for whatever ill they suffer. The Traveler might be a kind, upstanding person anyway, but his much more pressing concern is trying to make a good impression when he knows exactly how his hosts would treat him if they knew more about him.

Unfortunately Lessing was writing for an 18th-century audience, so the Traveler's identity comes as a surprise at the end of the play. A modern version can only work if it takes this as given, and stages Die Juden not as a satirical comedy, but as a tense psychological thriller and character study of a man for whom being "one of the good ones" is a delicate, unstable act.

Incidentally, this is what Ulrich Boschwitz's 1938 novel Der Reisende does.

[thehappyscavenger]

Books Read in March 2023

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr

I liked but didn’t love this one and am a bit baffled tbh by its stellar reputation which includes a Booker nom and a movie. The book is about a man in his 20s who is a vet of the first world war who heads off to the country to restore a religious mural on the church wall. He meets and bonds with the usual cast of small town characters and finds himself emotionally better off at the end of it.

It was lovely but slight and I found myself wanting more. My favourite parts were the main character’s musings on the work he was uncovering and the artist himself and how they were communicating across time with one another.

The Beach by Alex Garland

I like Garland a lot as a filmmaker but I never read his debut novel. As part of my slow rolling effort to read books I own instead of just mindlessly accumulating them I gave this one a shot and liked it a lot. It’s about a young white British traveller who is obsessed with backpacking around and finding perfectly untouched Edens which (by force of his discovery) will eventually become trampled and gentrified. By chance he is left with a map and discovers the perfect beach but this doesn’t exactly go as planned.

This is pretty sly and clever and I liked it a lot. Garland manages to be subtly critical of his characters (who are re-enacting colonialism from a perspective of privilege basically) and shows how dysfunctional this group can be.

A nice snapshot of ‘90s travel culture as well. It simply doesn’t work like this anymore and it’s kind of funny to see how quickly travel has changed in only a quarter century or so.

The Annual Migration of Clouds by Premee Mohamed

This was a just okay novella about climate change dystopia. I could pretty much tell where it was going by reading it and it went there but the getting there was kind of fun. I thought it was nice and bold of Mohamed to leave so many unanswered questions but then I found out the book was getting a sequel which seemed kind of lame. Either leave it as a novella or make it one full length book. Breaking it into two just seems odd.

The Trees by Percival Everett

I think maybe Everett just isn’t a writer for me. The beginning of this bowled me over because he’s such a sharp, clever writer and I know juuuuust enough about American history to have been surprised by the twist about who the families at the centre of the mystery were but as the novel went on it sort of lost me. 

The book is a sort of whodunit thriller that gets a bit speculative. IDK there was something that just didn’t gel for me. I felt similar about Everett’s Too Much Blue which I read last year where I was impressed by the writing but not by what he was saying.  

The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz

This book gave me nightmares. Written and set just after kristalnacht it tells the story of a rich German Jewish man who basically finds himself travelling across Germany, unable to leave but unable to stay after the Nazis have mass arrested all Jewish men. The book was published in 1939 and what makes it even worse is that the audience knows what Boschwitz and the main character do not. That death camps and mass genocide are in the near future. 

Very short and simply written which adds to the devastation. The history is doing the heavy weight in this story and it’s heartbreaking. 

Heaven’s Breath by Lyall Watson

I’ve been reading this off and on since September which is yet another indication that non-fiction just maybe isn’t for me. I did like this book which is a natural history on wind. It’s not even very long and Watson is a beautiful writer who is clearly passionate about his subject matter. The problem is that there’s not really a narrative through line just lots of little random factoids. It’s a good book to slow read though and excellent for picking up and putting down. There are also like 300+ books referenced and I definitely want to check out some of those because they sound super interesting. 

[vera-dauriac]

Books I’m currently pimping.

Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov translated by Boris Dralyuk

The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz translated by Philip Boehm

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

[anokatony]

'The Passenger' by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz - To be a Jewish Man in Germany on and after Kristallnacht

‘The Passenger’ by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz – To be a Jewish Man in Germany on and after Kristallnacht

  ‘The Passenger’ by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz (1938) – 266 pages           Translated from the German by Philip Boehm   The night of November 9-10, 1938 – Kristallnacht in Germany, the Night of Broken Glass. “I haven’t committed any crime, and not once in my life have I had anything to do with politics. Nevertheless they came to arrest me and they smashed up my apartment. Not entirely, but to a…

[cafehopping]

Man on the Run

Man on the Run

The PassengerBy Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz266 pp. Metropolitan Books. $25. It’s November 1938 and, like all Jews living in the Third Reich, Otto Silbermann has to get out of Germany — and fast! Silbermann’s anxiety is palpable and we eagerly turn the pages, desperate to see him make it out in time. Silbermann himself doesn’t strike us a particularly likable figure, and it’s to Boschwitz’s…

[redaynia]

Current reading list (2024) for anyone curious. If it has a star I loved it. If it's in italics it's a re-read

Currently Reading

Where Angels Fear To Tread - E.M. Forster

The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War - Hew Strachan (Ed.)

Complete

Interview with the Vampire - Anne Rice

The Machine Stops and Other Stories - E.M. Forster

The Secret History - Donna Tartt

Woman, Eating - Claire Kohda

Up with the Star - Delta Eske (ialpiriel on tumblr!)

All Quiet on the Western Front

To Read

White Fang - Jack London

The Passenger - Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz

Pyramids - Terry Pratchett

The Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco

[veselinasboekenkast]

Onlangs…

Mijn beste lezers,

Nu dat de kerstvakantie begonnen is heb ik meer tijd om te lezen. Ik ben daarom begonnen met het lezen van een boek dat al lang op mijn kast lag, misschien iets te lang. Het boek heet The passenger van Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz. Het boek speelt zich af tijdens de tweede wereldoorlog in Duitsland. De protagonist is een man dat zeer plotseling moest vluchtten uit zijn huis en het nog niet echt begrijpt wat er gebeurd. Ik zit maar in het begin van het boek, dus kan niet zoveel informatie geven. Hij is ook niet zo lang, heeft zo'n 200 pagina's.

Ik ben best benieuwd wat er nog zal gebeuren. En zal zoveel mogelijk proberen om het met jullie te delen.

(hier nog een foto van de cover).

Veselina ☺︎

[estantetropicanaeditorial]

O passageiro, Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz Escrito às pressas em 1938 por um jovem de 23 anos, o manuscrito de O passageiro foi redescoberto apenas em 2017, quando foi publicado na Alemanha e se tornou um fenômeno literário em escala global. Trata-se de um romance ágil e desesperador que mostra a tentativa de um negociante judeu de escapar de seu país, cada vez mais dominado por ideais nazifascistas. O livro impressiona por sua capacidade profética de dimensionar a violência absurda que tomaria a Alemanha, e o êxito que o livro teve nos dias de hoje revela como o alerta para a ressurgência do autoritarismo segue fundamental.

"Poderoso... Um retrato profético e arrepiante do terror da vida sob o regime nazista, comparável às obras-primas de Franz Kafka e Hans Fallada."

The Telegraph

"O passageiro mergulha o leitor na escuridão da Alemanha nazista. Merecia ser lido quando foi escrito. Certamente merece ser lido agora."

The Guardian

Tradução: Gisele Eberspächer

Revisão: Pamela P. Cabral da Silva

ISBN 978-65-5826-035-6

Fonte: https://www.dbaeditora.com.br/literatura/o-passageiro

[lastchancevillagegreen]

The Passenger (1938) Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz (288 pages) 2021 translation by Philip Boehm

Originally published in England in 1939 under the title of The Man Who Took Trains and in the US in 1940 as The Fugitive (of course the US would title it negatively) the novel written by a German Jew has only been published in Germany for the first time in 2018.  This 2021 printing is the first time it has been published in the US since the 1940 version.  It is an amazing read knowing that some of the things discussed in the book hadn’t yet taken place in Germany in 1938.  I’ve included the bio on the dust jacket of Boschwitz just to give you an idea about his life.  I cannot stop thinking about his tragic misfortune at the hands of the English government. 

[worteundgedanken]

Der Reisende: Roman

by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz

Freunde

»Sie haben vermutlich recht, aber mitunder muss man sich wohl Freunde einbilden, wenn man keine mehr hat. Das beruhigt zumindest ein wenig.«

Link: https://www.amazon.de/dp/3608981233/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_4e6eBbJ2CDPSE

[beautyisasleepingcat]

The Passenger - Der Reisende (1939) by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz -Literature and War Readalong GLM November 2021

The Passenger – Der Reisende (1939) by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz -Literature and War Readalong GLM November 2021

In 2015, Peter Graf, the German editor of The Passenger, read Boschwitz’s manuscript for the first time. The passenger was written in 1939, right after the November pogroms described in the novel; its English translation came out the same year in the UK. The US edition followed in 1940. Given the status of the writer, a German Jew who fled Nazi Germany in 1935, and the nature of the story, it��

[vera-dauriac]

Tagged by @lizlensky​ to name 6 books I plan to read in 2022.

Winter in Sokcho by Elisa Shua Dusapin translated by Aneesa Higgins

The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, translated by Philip Boehm

These Old Shades by Georgette Heyer

And then continuations of series I love, two of which don’t have covers yet, but 2022 release dates.

Husband Material (Boyfriend Material #2) by Alexis Hall

The Long Game (Game Changers #6) by Rachel Reid

Priest of Crowns (War for the Rose Throne #4) by Peter McLean

And now I’ll tag 6 folks (if you want to, but no pressure)...

@xserpx @verdigf @seeker-in-the-shade @revedebeatrice @kimannebb @alleyskywalker

[anokatony]

The Top 12 List of the Favorite Fiction I've Read in 2021

The Top 12 List of the Favorite Fiction I’ve Read in 2021

  This year I was again tempted to expand my favorites list beyond 12 to 15 or 20 but finally had the good sense to keep it at 12. Click on either the bold-faced title or the book cover image to see my original review for each work.   ‘The Land at the End of the World’ by Antonio Lobo Antunes (1979) – Nothing of the many, many works of fiction I have read before has prepared me for the brilliant…

[kaggsy59]

"....I've been running all my life..." #thepassenger #GermanLitMonth @PushkinPress

“….I’ve been running all my life…” #thepassenger #GermanLitMonth @PushkinPress

As part of German Lit Month, hosted by Lizzyand Caroline, there has been a readalaong of a book which has made quite a splash in the media. The work in question is “The Passenger” by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, and it has a fascinating history. An early version of the book was first published in England shortlay after the author and his mother escaped their after war broke out in 1939. However,…

[casalcova]

Il nuovo numero di ROCKERILLA è bellissimo, dentro c’è di tutto! La copertina dedicata a Carpenter la dice lunga.💥💥💥

In questo numero ho avuto il piacere di recensire alcuni libri di grande spessore che rilancio anche qui.

• “Uomini vicini alla vita” di Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz edito da Rizzoli imperdibile affresco di una sofferente Berlino che dà rifugio a sconfitti di ogni sorta e a una folla di reduci della prima guerra mondiale celebrando comunque la vita. Sempre di Boschwitz e sempre su Rockerilla recensii il meraviglioso “Il viaggiatore” di cui curai anche una lettura interpretata dai giovani attori di Kabukista durante il primo lockdown per il Centro Culturale Italo Tedesco.

•Di Angelo Sorino “Rino Gaetano e il Regno di Salanga” edito da Sagoma Editore dove ci viene magistralmente raccontato un Rino Gaetano inedito e pieno di umanità.

• Ultimo ma non ultimo “L’uomo di Philadelphia” edito da Marcos Y Marcos il capolavoro di Richard Powell da cui ricordiamo è stato tratto nel 1959 il film di Vincent Sherman con Paul Newman e Barbara Rush.

✖️Insomma correte in edicola!

🎯💥🎵🔝🪁

#rockerilla #musicreview #bookreview #rockerillamagazine #dischibelli #libribelli #musicaddocted