
A weary naval lieutenant rides a night train through a Germany still trembling from defeat, his mind haunted by the echo of the fallen emperor’s farewell. As the landscape blurs into a muted gray, an unexpected reunion with an old schoolmate—now a factory overseer—breaks his solitary reverie, sparking a conversation that weaves together memories of battlefield glory, personal loss, and the fragile hope of a nation trying to rebuild. Their exchanged stories reveal the stark contrast between the grandeur of past ambitions and the harsh realities of post‑war life, while the cramped carriage becomes a micro‑stage for the lingering pride and bitterness of a generation.
Through candid dialogue and vivid recollections, the novel captures the intimate struggles of men caught between loyalty to a vanished empire and the demands of a changed world. Listeners are drawn into the quiet tension of a shared past, the subtle humor of old friendships, and the lingering question of what it means to belong when the very idea of “home” has been shattered.
Language
fr
Duration
~5 hours (345K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2012-08-21
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
1888–1947
A German novelist and screenwriter best remembered for lively sports fiction, he also wrote travel-oriented work and later spent his final years in exile. His life stretched from prewar Berlin to London, where he died in 1947.
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