Der Tod von Reval is a collection of short stories about death and Tallinn (Reval is an older German name for the city). It starts off with the long, but true story of the Duke of Croÿ, who died in debt as a war captive in the city and is refused burial, only to have his mummy become a major tourist attraction. Another favorite is "Schneider und sein Obelisk" ("Schneider and his Obelisk") in which a series of husbands and wives are buried around an obelisk. There's also the story of a doctor who worries about people presumed dead and buried alive and leaves a bequest to found a hostel for them near the cemetery, the tale of an Estonian fisherman who finally finds a use for his no-good drunk of a wife one winter, and a warning about the dangers of Grappa.

But my all time favorite is "Die gelbe Totenvorreitersche" ("The Yellow Funeral Procession Leader") where the widow of a soldier in the Russian army who died on a far off front in the Caucasus or Turkey, decides to repay whomever buried her husband by leading every funeral procession regardless of ethnicity or religion to the final resting place. She wears a yellow jacket because it is what she had, being a poor widow, but in time it becomes her trademark. But when it's her turn to go to the cemetery, who will lead her procession?

Unfortunately, this book never seems to have been translated into English, which is a shame, because it is one of my absolute favorites. But if you read German, it's definitely worth seeking out.


Quote of the Book: "Der Obelisk hatte, wie es ja der Natur eines Obeliskes entspricht, vier Seiten. Wäre das Grabmal ein Dekaeder oder ein Dodekaeder oder sonst ein Polyeder gewesen, so müsste diese Geschichte wohl noch lange forterzählt werden." (p. 133)

"The obelisk had, as is the nature of an obelisk, four sides. If the grave marker had been a decahedron or a dodecahedron or a polyhedron, then this story would probably still have to be continued for a while." ( )