Berlin in the words of Philip Hensher editor of this anthology 'has always been a city of
desperate modernity' both in terms of urban architecture - largely a creation of the
progressive 19th century laid waste by World War II temporary home of the infamous Wall - and
in ways of living and behaving. As early as the 1920s it was the gay capital of Europe the
Communist East free West barrier presented unique problems for a divided population and in the
1990s in the aftermath of reunification the cheap run-down city became a vibrant centre for
creative artists. 'The sense of making it up as you go along is never far away in Berlin.' The
stories in this volume are the product of this series of multiple rebirths from the viewpoint
of both insiders and outsiders. From pre- 1914 there are contributions from Theodor Fontane and
Robert Walser from the Weimar Republic Alexander Döblin Vladimir Nabokov Erich Kästner
Ernst Haffner Irmgeud Keun and Christopher Isherwood from the Third Reich Thomas Wolfe Hans
Fallada and Heinz Rein from the Cold War era Peter Schneider Thomas Brussig Len Deighton
Christa Wolf and Ian McEwan from post-reunification Günter Grass Wladimir Kaminer Chloe
Aridjis Uwe Timm Kevin Barry Jean-Philippe Toussaint and Jenny Erpenbeck.
