Jurek Becker Boeken

Jürek Becker (1937–97) is best known for his novel Jacob the Liar, which follows the life of a man, who, like Becker, lived in the Lódz ghetto during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. Throughout his career, Becker also wrote nonfiction, and the essays, lectures, and interviews collected in My Father, the Germans and I share a common thread in that they each speak to Becker’s interactions with and opinions on the social, political, and cultural conditions of twentieth-century Germany.Becker, who had lived in both German states and in unified Germany, was passionately and humorously active in the political debates of his time. Becker never directly aligned himself with either the political ideology of East Germany or the capitalist market forces of West Germany. The remains of fascism in postwar Germany, and the demise of Socialism, as well as racism and xenophobic violence, were topics that perpetually interested Becker. However, his writings, as evidenced in this collection, were never pedantic, but always entertaining, retaining the sense of humor that made his novels so admired.My Father, the Germans and I gives expression to an exceptional author’s perception of himself and the world and to his tireless attempt to bring his own unique tone of linguistic brevity, irony, and balance to German relations. 

In the ghetto, possession of a radio is punishable by death. Like thousands of his fellow prisoners, Jacob Heym is cut off from all news of the war--until he is arrested one evening and brought to the German military office, where he overhears a report of the Red Army's advance to a city some 300 miles away. Miraculously, he is allowed to return to his quarters, but when he tries to spread the good news, the only way to make people believe him is to tell a lie: "How do I know? I have a radio." One lie leads to another, and before long Jacob finds himself feeding the entire ghetto fabricated news reports of the Russians' advance--reports that save lives by giving people renewed hope. So Jacob is a hero and a liar. But how much longer can his web of lies hold? Told with suspense and humor, here is a masterful tale of hope, desire, and the life-giving force of fiction. Awarded Germany's prestigious Heinrich Mann Prize for fiction and in a new translation by Leila Vennewitz, Jacob the Liar is a masterpiece of Kafkaesque comedy which unfolds with the impact of a timeless folk legend. This edition includes a new afterword by Louis Begley

One of the most remarkable novels of the Holocaust ever written, Jakob the Liar is a tale of everyday heroism and the extraordinary power of illusion. Set in an unnamed German-occupied ghetto, the story centers on an unlikely hero, Jakob Heym, who accidentally overhears news of vital importance: the Russians are advancing on a city three hundred miles away. As Jakob's tidings rekindle hope and the promise of liberation, he feels compelled to elaborate. Forming a protective bond with a young orphan girl, Jakob becomes caught in his own web of optimistic lies. Awarded Germany's prestigious Heinrich Mann Prize for fiction and in a new translation by Leila Vennewitz, Jakob the Liar is a masterpiece of Kafkaesque comedy which unfolds with the impact of a timeless folk legend.

"Jurek Becker was one of the giants of postwar German literature. The novel for which he is best-known, Jacob the Liar, won wide acclaim, was awarded the Heinrich Mann and Charles Veillon prizes, and was made into two movies. It has been called "a novel about the martyrdom of Europe's Jews that has never been surpassed" (Times Literary Supplement). The Wall is a new, brief collection of stories by Becker that either have never been translated into English or have never been published here in book form before"-- Provided by publisher

Jurek Becker war ein wunderbarer, mit großem Humor gesegneter Briefeschreiber. Von 1969 bis 1996 reicht diese Sammlung von Briefen, in denen sich das Werden eines Schriftstellers, seine politische Haltung zwischen den Systemen, seine Bekanntschaften und Freundschaften und die unablässige Schärfung seines ironischen Talents ablesen lassen. Beckers Briefpartner sind, abgesehen von den ihm Allernächsten, seine Lektorin Elisabeth Borchers und sein Verleger Siegfried Unseld, Kollegen wie Max Frisch, Uwe Johnson, Günter Grass, Christa Wolf und Wolf Biermann, Kritiker und Literaturwissenschaftler wie Marcel Reich-Ranicki und Fritz J. Raddatz – aber auch die Polizei Delmenhorst sowie die Kundendienstabteilung eines Elektrogeräteherstellers.»Charmant, taktierend, herablassend und immer witzig: Jurek Beckers Briefe lassen die tapfere Haltung auch seines Werks erkennen.« Martin Lüdke, Frankfurter Rundschau

Jurek Becker und Manfred Krug lernten sich 1956 als junge Träumer kennen und entwickelten eine über 40 Jahre währende Freundschaft. In diesem Buch sind ihre schönsten Postkarten abgebildet, die humorvoll und herzlich private sowie politische Inhalte transportieren und ein Gesamtkunstwerk aus Sprache und Bild darstellen.

Der Titel Nach der ersten Zukunft spielt nicht auf das Phantastische der Sciencefiction an. Die Zukunft, von der die Rede ist, ist gewöhnlich: sie bestimmt den Zeitpunkt der Entstehung des hier Geschriebenen - Erzählungen, Geschichten, Berichte, Notizen, Parabeln. Es ist, als habe der Erzähler, ehe er zu erzählen beginnt, prüfen müssen, wie sich denn diese Zukunft, die Gegenwart geworden ist, anlasse, um ein erstes, ein vielleicht vorläufiges, vielleicht letztes Fazit zu ziehen. Denn Zukunft ist ein großes Wort; sie ist dazu da, Hoffnungen zu erfüllen. Der Redner aber vor dem Kongreß der Unbedingt Zukunftsfrohen erklärt, er habe sich von den Unbedingt Zukunftsfrohen trennen müssen, weil ihre Art zu hoffen sich als unerfüllbar erwiesen habe. Erreichbar, so habe er erkennen müssen, sei die Erfüllung der Hoffnungen wohl eher bei den Bedingt Zukunftsfrohen.