Of the then younger authors of the Weimar Republic, who were granted something like posthumous fame, Erich Kästner is by far the most popular today. His name and his books are more present than those of Erich Maria Remarque, Irmgard Keun or Joseph Roth. Kästner is the house author of the democratic Germans, a schoolmaster without a pointing finger, a cool guy largely without mansplaining, a bon vivant with a good dose of melancholy. This author’s mix is so perfect that his work has outlived fashions, tastes and moralisms. And the interest of biographers, editors, directors and readers in this on the one hand catchy, on the other hand very distant-looking man of letters with strange biographical gaps is still huge.
Texts by Erich Kästner: “Resignation is not a point of view” – culture
