Description

Carl Sternheim (1878-1942) was Germany's most 'advanced', and certainly most provocative, dramatist in the decade spanning the First World War. While his satirical comedies remain popular and are frequently staged, the fourteen short stories in this collection have remained untouched for over a century - unjustly, but understandably, given their uncompromising literary modernism. They are here translated into English in their entirety for the first time.

The neglect of Sternheim's stories is largely due to his use of language. Critics complained that his rebarbative style 'does not fulfil its function as a cognitive instrument', even that 'he never wrote German at all'. Over-abbreviated, under-punctuated, fragmented, and truncated syntax thwarted access to his prose fiction, however 'extremely clever' its psychological depth (Fritz Martini). And so, apart from some Expressionist anthologies (although Sternheim distanced himself from the term, and from most of its young practitioners), it largely disappeared from view.

But Sternheim was a master of the short story: his powerful 'antijournalism' and scathing social satire are long overdue a reappraisal. This edition renders his difficult 'Expressionist' writing accessible for the first time, meaning Sternheim can finally attract the readership he deserves.

Fred Bridgham's publications include The Friendly German-English Dictionary, a translation of Hans Werner Henze's The Prince of Homburg for English National Opera, and (with Edward Timms) Karl Kraus's The Last Days of Mankind (an MLA prize-winner), as well as Kraus's The Third Walpurgis Night. This is his second volume for MHRA New Translations.