
E-text prepared by Jens Sadowski
The opening drops us into a noisy café in 1918 Berlin, where a handful of men watch a pair of drunk youths stumble through the night. Their reckless pursuit of a fleeing cat turns into a grotesque, almost comic tableau that spirals into fragmented chatter, half‑poems and bitter jokes. This bewildering scene sets the tone for a work that mixes expressionist violence with sly social satire.
In the following pages the narrator stitches together vignettes of characters like Emma Schnalke and the eccentric Nikolaus, each voice ticking like a restless drum. The language is jagged yet lyrical, pulling the listener between moments of raw aggression and fleeting tenderness. As the story unfolds, listeners are invited to follow the chaotic energy of a generation trying to find meaning in a world that feels both absurd and urgent.
Language
de
Duration
~1 hours (98K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Release date
Jul 12, 2011
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1888–1963
A restless, adventurous voice from early 20th-century Germany, his life moved through journalism, radical politics, exile, and the avant-garde. His work is often linked with Expressionism and Dada, giving it an edge that feels both literary and lived-in.
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