Irmgard Keun's 1931 novel, "Das Kunstseidene Mädchen", which has been translated into English as "The Artificial Silk Girl", is one of the most famous of Germany's `Neue Sachlichkeiten' works. This particular novel, in which the protagonist, Doris, a young working class German girl from Cologne, who dreams of the glitz and glamour and bright lights of the big city, Berlin - in her own words, she wants to be a "Glanz""Glamour Girl" - suffered subsequent censorship at the hands of Hitler's Nazi regime. This was due to the manner in which Doris is portrayed. Her behaviour and attitude towards men and her sexual relationships all greatly disturbed the National Socialist German society, which in effect deemed "Das Kunstseidene Mädchen" as anti-German, stating it possessed "antideutschen Tendenzen" . The uncompromising depiction of independent, self assured young women with goals out with the boundaries of...