German Literature in English Translation (Classics)

This site offers famous German literary works, classics, translated into English, including some Austrian and Swiss-German books.
It is an indispensable source for anybody who would like to get to know the best German novels and novellas of the past centuries. 

A novel:

The Rabbi of Bacharach

by Heinrich Heine

ISBN: 9781595691002
104 pages; perfect bound. 
8" x 5"


"The Rabbi of Bacharach" is an (unfinished) novel by German writer Heinrich Heine (1799-1856). 

It describes the life of Rabbi Abraham and his wife Sara at the end of the Middle Ages in the small town of Bacharach on the Rhine and in the Jewish quarter of Frankfurt on the Main.
The book also contains a "Biographical Sketch" of the life of Heinrich Heine by Emma Lazarus.

"During the period of his earnest labors for Judaism, [Heine] had buried himself with fervid zeal in the lore of his race, and had conceived the idea of a prose-legend, the Rabbi of Bacharach, illustrating the persecutions of his people during the middle ages. ... Heine, one of the most subjective of poets, treats this theme in a purely objective manner. He does not allow himself a word of comment, much less of condemnation concerning the outrages he depicts. He paints the scene as an artist, not as the passionate fellow-sufferer and avenger that he is. But what subtle eloquence lurks in that restrained cry of horror and indignation which never breaks forth, and yet which we feel through every line, gathering itself up like thunder on the horizon for a terrific outbreak at the end!" (Emma Lazarus)

 

Authors and titles on this site: Bernhard Kellermann: "God's Beloved", E. T. A. Hoffmann: "The Sandman. The Elementary Spirit.", Franz Grillparzer: "The Poor Musician", Gottfried Keller: "A Village Romeo and Juliet", Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: "Minna von Barnhelm", Heinrich Heine: "The Rabbi of Bacharach", Heinrich von Kleist: "Michael Kohlhaas", Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach: "Krambambuli" and "The District Doctor", Theodor Fontane: "Trials and Tribulations. A Berlin Novel", Theodor Storm: "The Rider of the White Horse" ("The Dikegrave").