The works of Irmgard Keun present a remarkable literary document of German life and times from the late Weimar Republic to the postwar period. Keun's novels interweave ironic insights into the psychology of the middle and lower middle classes with vivid depictions of Depression-era Cologne and Berlin, pubs in Nazidominated Frankfurt, European hotels frequented by refugees, and the rubble of the postwar years. The seemingly innocent observations of her naive but bright and spirited young female protagonists reflect Keun's own incisive criticisms of conventional middle-class values and patriarchal attitudes toward sexual mores. Like her characters, Keun displayed courage and honesty in the face of social and political repression; her novels reflect the personal tragedy of her life under fascism and in exile, while providing a clear-sighted critique of the culture of her era.

Born in Berlin in 1905 to affluent and liberal-minded parents, Keun spent her later childhood in...