Forethoughts: city-lit BERLIN
November 17, 2009 by Rob
Filed under Forethoughts
So it’s Hey-O and away I go as I head off to Berlin for my next read, with the latest city-lit edition from Oxygen Books.
If you’re a regular reader of RobAroundBooks then you’ll know that I’m a bit of a fan of the city-lit series. For those not wholly familiar with it, the city-lit series utilises specially selected extracts of pre-existing literature, to illustrate some aspect of a featured city’s life. To date Oxygen Books have published city-lit editions on Paris and London, and this, the third title in the series, focuses on Berlin; a city which can definitely be considered as having an extensive and chequered history to its name.
So with such a rich history to tap into what lies ahead for me in the pages city-lit BERLIN, a book I’ve been gasping to read ever since I first received it? Well the promise is immense. As with the other two titles in the city-lit series, BERLIN is packed with an eclectic mix of literary extracts (both fictional and factual), from an equally eclectic range of writers. This edition of city-lit features more than 60 of them, from German literary greats such as Hans Fallada and W G Sebald, to more cosmopolitan novelists such as Belgian Paul Verhaeghen and Bulgarian Nobel Laureate, Elias Canetti. city-lit BERLIN isn’t just about novelists though, and it’s great to see journalism featured heavily in this new edition (as it should be), with German journalist and historian Sebastian Haffner, British journalists John Simpson and Kate Adie, and contemporary Berlin-based blogger and journalist Simon Cole, all adding their thoughts and impressions to the overall mix.
That ‘overall mix’, like the other titles in the city-lit series, is organised into themed chapters (nine in total), with a different aspect of Berlin and/or its history being explored under each chapter. Chapter headings such as ‘Come to the cabaret…’, ‘The Past is another country’, ‘Out and About’, ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ and ‘And the Wall came tumbling down’ all offer a strong indication of what belies the contents, while at the same time giving some notion of the breadth and depth of exploration that can be expected from this edition. To me it looks like the whole spectrum of Berlin’s twentieth-century history is touched upon in city-lit BERLIN, which is incredibly exciting. But of course that’s something I can only fully comment on after reading it.
BERLIN also brings with it a new city-lit reading experience for me. In a first for the series, BERLIN is the work of joint editors. The previous publications have been solely compiled by industrious editor Heather Reyes. But on this occasion Reyes has been joined by Katy Derbyshire, whose translation skills have apparently been invaluable in bringing a more comprehensive work to publication. Being a fan of the city-lit series I’m obviously already a fan of Reyes as an editor. She has a knack of selecting extracts which, when grouped together, give a well-rounded and pleasing snapshot of some aspect of city life.
In other words Reyes is a good editor, and taking the old adage ‘two heads are better than one’ into account, it’ll be interesting to see if Derbyshire has made a positive improvement to this new city-lit edition, or whether in this case ‘two is a crowd’. Ahead of reading I can see that it is most likely going to be the former. In her notes in the opening pages of city-lit BERLIN, Reyes credits Derbyshire with bringing close to twenty extracts to city-lit BERLIN, many of which (all?) have been previously unpublished in English. That equates to almost a third of the book – all extracts which wouldn’t have been there if it weren’t for the assistance of Derbyshire. So on the face of it I think we can regard the employment of a second editor as being a positive move. Ultimately though only a read through will confirm this.
And so the ‘read through’ begins and although I’ve missed filing a review of city-lit BERLIN in time for its publication (5th November – to coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (9th November)), I’ve started to read city-lit BERLIN now to coincide with the official launch party for the book, which takes place in 10 days time (at the time of writing), on Thursday 27th November at the Goethe Institute, London. That gives me just enough time for me to work my way through what looks to be an immensely exciting reading experience.
So I’m planning on reading through city-lit BERLIN as follows – one themed chapter per day for the next nine days. All being well that means I will finish the book on Wednesday 26th November, one day before the launch party, when I’ll post up my ‘afterthoughts’. Meantime you can follow my progress through my reading journal, where I’ll also offer up daily comments on each section as I complete it.
Oxygen Books | 05 November 2009 | £8.99 | PAPERBACK | 247 PP | ISBN: 9780955970047
A note about Forethoughts
‘Forethoughts’ offer an insight into what my initial thoughts and impressions of a book are, before I begin reading it. Informal, and largely written as a stream-of-consciousness exercise in a single sitting, my ‘forethoughts’ capture an important stage of the reading experience for me – the anticipatory period before the book is first opened, when my excitement is piqued for the reading experience which lies ahead.
Blissfully ignorant my ‘forethoughts’ may be, but when they’re combined with my eventual ‘afterthoughts’, the result is a unique and comprehensive record of a very personal literary ‘journey’ through a particular book; a literary journey which will hopefully be of some value to other readers.
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Rob, a self-confessed bibliophile, is without any hope of rehabilitation. He gets unnaturally excited over anything book-shaped, and if book sniffing were a crime then he would have been locked up years ago (which wouldn't bother him in the slightest provided his cell were lined with books)
