{"product_id":"ginster","title":"Ginster","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--StartFragment --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003eBy \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003eSiegfried\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003eKracauer\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eAfterword by Johannes von Moltke\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\" class=\"cf0\"\u003eTranslated by Carl \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\" class=\"cf0\"\u003eSkoggard\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003e“The reissue of this novel now is valuable, beyond its considerable historical and aesthetic virtues, because it makes pertinent points about today’s world, bedeviled by war, misery, poverty, and the enticing lure of despotism as an answer to democracy’s shortcomings.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e—Thomas \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eFilbin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e, \u003cem\u003eThe Arts Fuse\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eGinster’s\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e name belongs with modern literature’s antiwar activists from the \u003cem\u003eGood Soldier \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf2\"\u003eŠvejk\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf2\"\u003e to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf2\"\u003eYossarian\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf2\"\u003e.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eKirkus\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003eWhen World War I breaks out, a young architecture student in Munich does everything in his power to avoid being enlisted into the German military in this perceptive, wickedly humorous novel by a prominent twentieth-century writer, journalist, and film critic.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003eSiegfried \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003eKracauer’s\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003eGinster\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003e is the great World War I novel you’ve never heard of. Here, the sheer horrors are kept offstage, as in Greek tragedy, and merely reported from time to time. The setting is the German home front. Its \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003eChaplinesque\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003e antihero\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eGinster\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e—spends the war gumming up the German war machine as he maneuvers to stay out of its clutches and save his own skin.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eWhich he does; however, there is a deeper struggle going on between \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eGinster’s\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e dreamy self-absorption and the pitiless organization of society, war or no war. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eGinster\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e has no wish to do anything. Alas, his reveries are forever being interrupted by the demands of an other-minded world.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eAll the scenes of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eGinster\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e are well to the rear of the military action, yet with \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eKracauer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e narrating, military language saturates all aspects of civilian life in the homeland. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eGinster’s\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e nearest and dearest are so gung-ho, he feels that he’s at the front when he visits them.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eWar, the author seems to say, is merely ordinary life seen from the back instead of the front. As a new European war darkens our horizon, one no more expected than was World War I, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003eKracauer’s\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf1\"\u003e novel feels timelier than ever.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003ePaperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e336 pages\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eNYRB Classics, 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eOriginally Published in 1928\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"cf0\"\u003e5 x 8 inches\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eISBN 9781681378145\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eGerman Literature\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c!--EndFragment --\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"vendor-unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53201719951528,"sku":"9781681378145","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0175\/8594\/files\/Kracauer_Ginster.jpg?v=1752079316","url":"https:\/\/neue-galerie-design-shop.myshopify.com\/products\/ginster","provider":"Neue Galerie Design Shop \u0026 Book Store","version":"1.0","type":"link"}