A Sad Affair
by Wolfgang Koeppen
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Description
"Set during the heady, pre-World War II days of cabaret-era Germany, the novel centers on the unrequited affair between Sibylle - a stunning seductress who strings along five men at a time - and Friedrich, the callow, melancholic youth who pursues her obsessively. In a series of episodic flashbacks, Koeppen, with a cinematic vividness and intensity that anticipate Beat literature by nearly twenty years, tracks the doomed couple first to Zurich and then to the mysterious streets of Venice. show more Friedrich is a vibrant comic creation, "an amok runner of love," energetic but inept, modest yet exorbitant - the epitome of a talented, striving young artist. Sibylle, glamorous and indifferent, remains as alluring a femme fatale as Salome."--BOOK JACKET. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A lyrical novel about an obsessive affair of an intense young man (poor but educated) for an ideal girl, Sibylle. The young man, Friedrich, is passionate, but his ideal often indifferent to his advances. That does not prevent this from being a fascinating tale, made better by an author who, according to the translator, is "in love with writing".
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Author Information
Wolfgang Koeppen was born in 1906 and died in 1996 in Munich.
Some Editions
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
suhrkamp taschenbuch (0392)
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Has as a commentary on the text
Has as a student's study guide
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Eine unglückliche Liebe
- Original title
- Eine unglückliche Liebe
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction, Romance
- DDC/MDS
- 833.912 — Literature & rhetoric German & related literatures German fiction 1900- 1900-1990 1900-1945
- LCC
- PT2621 .O46 .U613 — Language and Literature German, Dutch and Scandinavian literatures German literature Individual authors or works 1860/70-1960
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 47
- Popularity
- 625,258
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, German, Norwegian (Bokmål)
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
