Alfred Döblin

German author. Born in Szczecin, Poland, to a Jewish tailor. When he was ten years old, his father fled to America with his mistress, so he moved to Berlin with his family, studied psychiatry, and opened a practice in a slum in the eastern part of Berlin. He was involved with Expressionist poets early on, and his short story The Killing of Dandelions (1913) became a pioneering work of Expressionism. He later wrote novels such as Van Loon's Three Leaps (1915), which deals with the revolutionary movement in 18th-century China, and Wallenstein (1920), which is based on the Thirty Years' War, expressing his socialist beliefs and participating in political movements as a Social Democratic Party member. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929), a metropolitan novel set in the lower classes of Berlin on the eve of fascism, tells the story of the downfall of a former truck driver who is released from prison vowing to reform, and is said to be one of the greatest masterpieces of modern German literature, becoming a bestseller and being made into a film. In 1933, he fled to Paris, where he interacted with French Communists, and wrote "November 1918" (1940), which dealt with the issues of the Communist Revolution and Christianity, before converting to Catholicism. After World War II, he published the literary magazine "The Golden Gate" in the former West Germany, devoting himself to the revival of culture, and also wrote "Hamlet: Or, The Long Night Is Ended" (1956), a deep psychological novel depicting the breakdown of a family, but it was not recognized, and he unfortunately died of an illness.

[Moritake Hayasaki]

"Hayasaki Moritoshi's translation of "Berlin Alexanderplatz" in two volumes (1971, Kawade Shobo Shinsha)" ▽ "Hayasaki Moritoshi's translation of "Hamlet - Or the Long Night is Over" in two volumes (1970, Chikumashobo)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ドイツの作家。ユダヤ人の仕立屋の子として、現在のポーランド領シュチェチンに生まれる。10歳のとき、父が愛人とアメリカに逃亡したので家族とともにベルリンに出、精神医学を学んでベルリン東部の貧民街で開業した。早くから表現派の詩人たちと交わり、短編小説『たんぽぽ殺し』（1913）は表現主義の先駆的作品となる。その後18世紀の中国の革命運動を扱った長編『バン・ルーンの三つの跳躍』（1915）、三十年戦争を素材とした『ワレンシュタイン』（1920）などを書き社会主義的信条を表明、社会民主党の立場で政治運動にも加わった。ファシズム前夜のベルリンの下層社会を舞台に、更生を誓って出獄した元トラック運転手の零落の運命を扱った大都市小説『ベルリン・アレクサンダー広場』（1929）は、現代ドイツ文学の最高傑作の一つといわれ、ベストセラーとなり、また映画化もされた。1933年にパリに亡命しフランスの共産主義者らと交流、共産革命とキリスト教の問題をテーマとした『1918年11月』（1940）を書いたあとカトリックに改宗した。第二次世界大戦後は旧西ドイツで文学雑誌『金の門』を出版し文化の復興に献身、また一家族の崩壊を描いた深層心理学的小説『ハムレット――あるいはながき夜は終わりて』（1956）を書いたが認められず、不運のうちに病死した。

［早崎守俊］

『早崎守俊訳『ベルリン・アレクサンダー広場』全2巻（1971・河出書房新社）』▽『早崎守俊訳『ハムレット――あるいはながき夜は終わりて』全2巻（1970・筑摩書房）』

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