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The Lure of Literature

Have you ever been caught reading? Most people consider reading a book (as opposed to reading a screen, a magazine advertisement or a newspaper) to be a very positive endeavour. There's little that gives greater pleasure than really immersing yourself in a book so that you forget about all the other things you ought to be doing. Literature is a wonderful way to discover new stories, ideas and worlds - it's no wonder we like it so much. With that in mind, the prospect of unlocking the door to new and exciting literature might just be the reason you need to start exploring a new language if you haven't been convinced before now.

Read on to find out about some of the books you might have been missing out on - you might be hooked on learning a new language and be well on your way to a world of new and exciting discoveries!

Georges Perec's La Vie mode d'emploi

There is something to be said about the most famous novel by author Georges Perec. La Vie mode d'emploi or Life, a User's Manual is a grandiose and terribly complex novel that is one of the most clear examples of the fantastic things that can be found when you have access to new languages. The novel (or novels, which is the way the book describes itself) relates a multitude of intertwined stories that revolve around the same locale and time period.

This tapestry of stories, ideas and historical allusions revolves around the lives of the inhabitants of a Parisian apartment block. Each story is a concise (and usually simple) tale that is entertaining and full of meaning. Each tale (confined to a chapter) is written following a complex system of constraints that define strict parameters such as:

• the number of people involved
• the length of the chapter in pages
• an activity
• a position of the body
• emotions
• an animal
• reading material
• countries
• 2 lists of novelists, from which a literary quotation is required

Furthermore, each of these small tales forms just a piece of a larger narrative that is unlocked by reading the whole novel. A true example of artistic ingenuity, La Vie mode d'emploi is a great reason to learn French on one of the many French Courses London currently offers.

Rudolf Ditzen's Every Man Dies Alone

Every Man Dies Alone is a sobering tale written by a peculiar author named Rudolf Ditzen. Mr. Ditzen was certainly as prolific - this book, written in merely 24 days, is physical proof - as he was psychologically disturbed. Rudolf Ditzen spent a significant portion of his life in asylums (the list of reasons includes such picturesque events as killing a friend in a duel and threatening his wife with a loaded gun) and prisons (the charges were embezzling - Rudolf was trying to finance his morphine habit). Regardless, he managed to write more than 25 books under the pen name "Hans Fallada" in which he showed his sharp wit.

Every Man Dies Alone is a detective story in which a Gestapo inspector tries to catch the makers of inflammatory postcards that have started appearing all over Berlin. The story unfolds in a time of fear and mistrust when half the population is set on locking up the other half and every neighbour is an extension of the proverbial big brother (as any unusual behaviour can be reported by those who want to save themselves). Here, every man dies alone, but everyone is observed. An under-rated gem often overlooked, this is just one of the great German books that you could enjoy after taking one of the German Courses London offers