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The Artificial Silk Girl

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Wikipedia article




'The Artificial Silk Girl' is a novel by Irmgard Keun, published in Berlin in 1932. The protagonist Doris writes about how she keeps her head above water, first in her hometown and then in Berlin.

'The Artificial Silk Girl' was a huge bestseller in Weimar Germany, until the Nazis banned it. It is Keun's best known book in contemporary Germany.Gabriele Kreis: . The life of Irmgard Keun. Arche, Zurich 1991, ISBN 3-7160-2120-2 , p. 88-93 .Margret Mckel: . In: . 3rd Edition. tape 447 . Bange , Hollfeld 2006, ISBN 3-8044-1834-1 .

It is referenced in Ali Smith's 2020 novel 'Summer'.

Story line



The novel takes place at the end of the Weimar Republic - from the end of the summer of 1931 to the spring of 1932 - first in a 'medium-sized town' in the Rhineland and then in Berlin.

It tells of a phase in the life of the eighteen-year-old protagonist (Doris)in the form of an ongoing, undated diary.

Doris would like to write her diary like a screenplay for the silent films of the time. Coming from modest circumstances, she dreams of a life as a celebrity. In order to be able to afford a better lifestyle, she goes out with wealthier men. She loses her unloved job as a shorthand typist because she rejects sexual advances from her boss. Through the mediation of her mother, who works as a cloakroom attendant at a theater, she becomes an extra. In order to gain recognition from the drama students, she invents an affair with the theater director, but this soon threatens to be exposed. In this situation, she "borrows" an expensive fur coat from the theatre wardrobe, but ultimately does not bring it back. She fears the police, and then flees to Berlin.

In Berlin, she gets back on her feet financially through various male acquaintances, but also loses her property and her accommodation again and again. She makes friends with a blind neighbor but he is soon put into a home by his wife. She also becomes acquainted with the industrial magnate Alexander, with whom she lives in pure luxury. However, some time later, Alexander is arrested for tax evasion.

Finally, when she is completely penniless, she meets a man Ernst, who takes her home and lets her live with him without expecting anything in return. He has been abandoned by his wife, whom he still mourns. Little by little, Doris begins to run the household and eventually a relationship develops between the two. When Doris realizes that Ernst cannot forget his ex-wife, she tracks her down and arranges for her return. It is clear to her that the ex-wife is only returning to Ernst for material reasons. Still, Doris thinks he'll be happier this way than with her. At the end of the novel, she is once again penniless and homeless and finally decides to move in with the peddler Karl, who lives in a gazebo.

Translations



The novel was translated into Danish, English, French, Russian, Hungarian in 1933, Polish in 1934 and Spanish in 1965. Translations are also available in nine other languages. In October 2013 the first Hebrew translation was published.

Category:1932 novels

Category:20th-century German novels

Category:German literature

Category:Weimar Republic

References






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