Dichter, Denker Und Erzahler: A German Reader

This is one of the best (if not the best) German readers I've ever had. It is NOT dual-langauage: it consists of a selection of original (unabridged) short stories, extracts, essays and few poems - all in German / the way they were originally written, but with all more or less complex words translated in footnotes on the same page. Moreover, almost every single word encountered in any of the selected pieces is available in the Appendix (German-English dictionary), which takes almost full second half of the book. The book consists of four parts, with a gradual progression in complexity. Each selected piece is accompanied with a short biography of the author. Part I is a selection of fables and fairy tales (including "Die Geschichte von Kalif Storch" by W. Hauff, and of course a few fairy tales by Brothers Grimms), Part II is short stories, Part III includes non-fiction: essays and "scientific prose" (wissenschaftliche Prosa, featuring an abstract from Freud's work, among a few other interesting pieces), and Part IV concludes with a good selection of short poems. Parts I and II, being certainly easier than Part III, have also discussion questions and key words for each of the stories, included in the end of each section. Part III is the most complex in the book, and unlike the other three parts, it has all of mini-biograpgies written in German. The book is published in 1998 (prior to the German orthography reform of 1996), so predictably, all material is written using traditional / "old" spelling rules. I'd like to compliment the editors on the excellent selection of pieces. Unlike most other similar books I have (though most of them are dual-language), almost all of the stories and essays in this book were quite interesting / not boring to me. Though I'd been familiar with quite a few of them in their translated form, being able to read them in the original was certainly a delight. I can certainly recommend this book to all advanced (or intermediate/advanced) learners of German.

This is one of the best (if not the best) German readers I've ever had. It is NOT dual-language: it consists of a selection of original (unabridged) short stories, extracts, essays and few poems - all in German / the way they were originally written, but with all more or less complex words translated in footnotes on the same page. Moreover, almost every single word encountered in any of the selected pieces is available in the Appendix (German-English dictionary), which takes almost full second half of the book. The book consists of four parts, with a gradual progression in complexity. Each selected piece is accompanied with a short biography of the author. Part I is a selection of fables and fairy tales (including "Die Geschichte von Kalif Storch" by W. Hauff, and of course a few fairy tales by Brothers Grimms), Part II is short stories, Part III includes non-fiction: essays and "scientific prose" (wissenschaftliche Prosa, featuring an abstract from Freud's work, among a few other interesting pieces), and Part IV concludes with a good selection of short poems. Parts I and II, being certainly easier than Part III, have also discussion questions and key words for each of the stories, included in the end of each section. Part III is the most complex in the book, and unlike the other three parts, it has all of mini-biograpgies written in German. The book is published in 1998 (prior to the German orthography reform of 1996), so predictably, all material is written using traditional / "old" spelling rules. I'd like to compliment the editors on the excellent selection of pieces. Unlike most other similar books I have (though most of them are dual-language), almost all of the stories and essays in this book were quite interesting / not boring to me. Though I'd been familiar with quite a few of them in their translated form, being able to read them in the original was certainly a delight. I can certainly recommend this book to all advanced (or intermediate/advanced) learners of German.