Alfred Döblin

Alfred Döblin (August 10, 1878 – June 26, 1957) was a German expressionist novelist, best known for Berlin Alexanderplatz. He was born in Stettin, Pomerania, now Szczecin in Poland, the son of a Jewish merchant.

Life

1878 - 1918

The family moved to Berlin in 1898, where Döblin studied medicine, first at the University of Berlin, then at Freiburg University. During his student years, he became interested in German philosophy, especially that of Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche. After graduating, he worked as a journalist in Regensburg and Berlin, before actually beginning a psychiatric practice in the working class neighborhood of Alexanderplatz.

Related Topics:
Berlin - University of Berlin - Freiburg University - Immanuel Kant - Arthur Schopenhauer - Friedrich Nietzsche - Regensburg - Psychiatric - Alexanderplatz

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During this time, he wrote several novels, but none of them was published until 1915, when Die Drei Sprünge des Wang-Lung saw print. It tells the story of political upheaval in 18th century China. He won the Fontane Prize for it.

Related Topics:
1915 - Fontane Prize

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He was garnering popularity through several expressionist short stories in the magazine Der Sturm. Eventually he dropped out of the Expressionist Movement, but many of his Sturm stories were published in 1913 in a collection called Die Ermordung einer Butterblume.

Related Topics:
Short stories - Der Sturm

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During World War I, Döblin served as a doctor with the German Army, but continued his writing. His historical novel, Wallenstein, set during the Thirty Years' War, was written during this period.

Related Topics:
World War I - German Army - Thirty Years' War

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1919 - 1933

In 1920 Döblin joined the Association of German Writers (Schutzverband Deutscher Schriftsteller), and in 1924 he became its president. He reviewed plays for the Prager Tageblatt for several years, and was a member of the Group 1925 with Bertolt Brecht. In 1924 he published Berge, Meere und Giganten, a dystopic view of a future in which technology confronts man and nature.

Related Topics:
Group 1925 - Bertolt Brecht - Dystopic - Technology

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In 1929, Berlin Alexanderplatz was published. Partly written in colloquial German, with many viewpoint characters and a narrative style reminiscent of John Dos Passos and James Joyce, it tells the story of a criminal who is drawn deeper and deeper into an underworld he cannot rise out of.

Related Topics:
John Dos Passos - James Joyce

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1933 - 1957

When the Nazis took power in Germany, Döblin fled to Switzerland and then the United States, working for MGM in Hollywood. His novel Das Land Ohne Tod, set in South America, was published in 1937.

Related Topics:
Nazi - Switzerland - United States - MGM - Hollywood - South America - 1937

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In 1941, Döblin converted to Roman Catholicism, citing Søren Kierkegaard and Baruch Spinoza as influences.

Related Topics:
1941 - Roman Catholicism - Søren Kierkegaard - Baruch Spinoza

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Döblin returned to Europe in 1945, working for the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs. He returned to Germany, settling in Baden-Baden, where he worked as an education officer and a magazine publisher, but, unhappy with the political environment in his native country, he settled in France (he had become a French citizen in 1936).

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His two outstanding contributions from this period are a historical novel, November 1918, and Hamlet, an expression of his hopes for the future of Europe.

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In 1956 Döblin entered a sanitarium in Freiburg im Breisgau. He remained mostly paralyzed for the rest of his life, dying in Emmendingen the following year.

Related Topics:
Freiburg im Breisgau - Emmendingen

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