Reflections on a Year of Reading German Literature
Books: Death in Vienna by Thomas Mann, Eros and Civilization by Herbert Marcuse, Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler.
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General reflection
I’ve learned a few things about Germany through reading their literature such as the German word for school is Gymnasium, which is weird because it means something totally different here in the U.S. I think all four books I’ve read all have some traces of philosophy or some philosophical ideas in them. German writers seems to be very hung up on the idea of philosophy, and most of them I don’t quite understand. The best example of this is Eros and Civilization which talks mostly about Freudian theory. Freud himself was Austrian so historical it makes some sense that a German person would analyze his theory. The texts I’ve read were mostly really dense aside from maybe Night Train to Lisbon, and even then I still had some trouble with it. Two out of the four books dealt with almost the same plot archetype of traveling on “going on a quest” which were Night Train to Lisbon and Death in Vienna, although they differ somewhat in story and theme. The general gist I got from these literature was that German culture highly values education and knowledge. These writings all had some sort of academic ties attached whether it be philosophy, economics, politics, etc.
What I learned about life from Death in Vienna:
Death in Vienna was by far probably the weirdest story out of the four books. I don’t really understand it that much aside from a guy having a midlife crisis and decided to travel. In the process he fell in love with a young boy. I guess the theme would be it’s not too late to discover something new about yourself.
What I learned about Life from Eros and Civilization:
This was probably the hardest book to understand and also might be my favorite book out of the four. Reading this was like listening to a lecture, most of the stuff just went over my head by I found some of the concepts to be really intriguing. I learned some psychoanalysis stuff like the ego, superego, and Id. I think this book dealt with a weird topic and I like that because we don’t really talk about sex and how it affects the world.
What I learned about life from Night Train to Lisbon:
Night Train was a fun read. I haven’t gotten around to watching the movie to understand the book completely but it’s on my To Do list. Similarly to Death in Vienna I learned that it’s not too late to get out of your comfort zone. Gregorius was like 60 years old and been doing the same monotonous thing but decided to quite his job teaching to travel.
What I learned about life from Mein Kampf:
This book is still fresh in my memory so I learned quite a lot about this book. I learned about Hitler’s childhood and also the general zeitgeist of Germany during this time period. Hitler’s childhood appeared normal so he was probably a born psychopath to begin with. Germany after World War I appeared to be full of resentment and hatred.
What I learned about myself and reading:
I learned that I zone out a lot while reading. It’s hard to stay focus unless I’m really into the text. And it may sound crazy but lighting makes a big difference. Whenever we had time to read in class I feel more focus than reading at home when I have the lights kinda dim. The lighting at school feels more natural. I also found that my taste in books is probably duller than most people. Although I often found some of these books really boring, however I would rather read these books than say Hunger Games. Now I’m a bit worried for college because if the language in textbooks resemble these books then I would have a really hard time. From reading these books and struggling I think in college I am going to have to use sticky notes and summarize important ideas every chapter in order to understand it.














