Biography Essay

Alfred Doblin's reputation as one of the most important German writers of narrative prose in the twentieth century is secure. He was the author of a series of innovative, original, and very diverse works, so diverse that the question has been asked whether he had his own style or changed his style from work to work. In spite of his undisputed reputation among critics, however, few of Doblin's works are known to a wide audience. His early short stories are considered characteristic examples of expressionistic prose and are much anthologized. While his "Chinese novel" Die drei Sprunge des Wang-lun (The Three Leaps of Wang-lun, 1915) and—less frequently- Wallenstein (1920) are sometimes mentioned, Doblin's fame really rests on a single work: Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929; translated as Alexanderplatz, Berlin, 1931). It was his only work to become instantly popular, to be recognized by literary critics and the reading public alike...