1915
First Published
3.61
Average Rating
512
Number of Pages
Here for the first time in English is Alfred Döblin's astonishing epic of eighteenth century China, hailed on its publication in 1915 as a master-piece of Expressionist prose, and since recognized to be the first modern German novel. The Three Leaps of Wang Lun is the story of a doomed sectarian rebellion during the reign of Emperor Ch'ien-lung (1736-1796). It is also the most sustained evocation, in any European language, of a China untouched by the West. Döblin's imagination, almost hallucinatory in its intensity, brings this China to vivid life. Teeming cities and Tibetan wastes, political intrigue and religious yearning, life at Court and the fate of wandering outcasts are depicted in a language of enormous vigour, unfolding the theme of meekness against force, a mystical sense of the world against the realities of power. This translation for the first time presents the whole work as Döblin wrote it. The inclusion of the Prologue, dropped from the first German edition and never replaced, restores a unity of structure and theme missing from previous editions. The Introduction places the novel in the context of Döblin's life and work, the Expressionist movement and the historical background, and discusses its theme and style.
Avg Rating
3.61
Number of Ratings
87
5 STARS
20%
4 STARS
45%
3 STARS
21%
2 STARS
7%
1 STARS
8%
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Author
Alfred Döblin
Author · 17 books
Bruno Alfred Döblin (August 10, 1878 – June 26, 1957) was a German novelist, essayist, and doctor, best known for his novel Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929). A prolific writer whose œuvre spans more than half a century and a wide variety of literary movements and styles, Döblin is one of the most important figures of German literary modernism. His complete works comprise over a dozen novels ranging in genre from historical novels to science fiction to novels about the modern metropolis; several dramas, radio plays, and screenplays; a true crime story; a travel account; two book-length philosophical treatises; scores of essays on politics, religion, art, and society; and numerous letters—his complete works, republished by Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag and Fischer Verlag, span more than thirty volumes. His first published novel, Die drei Sprünge des Wang-lung (The Three Leaps of Wang Lun), appeared in 1915 and his final novel, Hamlet oder Die lange Nacht nimmt ein Ende (Tales of a Long Night) was published in 1956, one year before his death.
