{"product_id":"ginster-9781681378145","title":"Ginster","description":"\u003cb\u003eWhen World War I breaks out, a young architecture student in Munich does everything in his power to avoid being enlisted into the German military in this perceptive, wickedly humorous novel by a prominent twentieth-century writer, journalist, and film critic.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSiegfried Kracauer's \u003ci\u003eGinster \u003c\/i\u003eis the great World War I novel you've never heard of. Here, the sheer horrors are kept offstage, as in Greek tragedy, and merely reported from time to time. The setting is the German home front. Its Chaplinesque antihero--Ginster--spends the war gumming up the German war machine as he maneuvers to stay out of its clutches and save his own skin. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhich he does; however, there is a deeper struggle going on between Ginster's dreamy self-absorption and the pitiless organization of society, war or no war. Ginster has no wish to \u003ci\u003edo\u003c\/i\u003e anything. Alas, his reveries are forever being interrupted by the demands of an other-minded world. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAll the scenes of \u003ci\u003eGinster\u003c\/i\u003e are well to the rear of the military action, yet with Kracauer narrating, military language saturates all aspects of civilian life in the homeland. Ginster's nearest and dearest are so gung-ho, he feels that he's at the front when he visits them. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWar, the author seems to say, is merely ordinary life seen from the back instead of the front. As a new European war darkens our horizon, one no more expected than was World War I, Kracauer's novel feels timelier than ever.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Siegfried Kracauer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e New York Review of Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/07\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 312\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.81lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781681378145\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/22\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSiegfried Kracauer\u003c\/b\u003e (1889-1966) was a German novelist, film theorist, and cultural critic. He worked as the film and literature editor of the \u003ci\u003eFrankfurter Zeitung\u003c\/i\u003e between 1922 and 1933, and he has been associated with the Frankfurt School of critical theory through his friendships with Theodor Adorno and Leo Löwenthal. From 1941 until his death in 1966, Kracauer lived and worked in the United States, where he wrote two of his most influential works, \u003ci\u003eFrom Calgari to Hitler\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eTheory of Film\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eCarl Skoggard\u003c\/b\u003e is a writer and translator based in Hudson, NY. His translations include Walter Benjamin's \u003ci\u003eSonnets\u003c\/i\u003e and a later novel by Siegfried Kracauer, \u003ci\u003eGeorg\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohannes von Moltke\u003c\/b\u003e is a professor of German and of film, media, and television at the University of Michigan. His book \u003ci\u003eThe Curious Humanist: Siegfried Kracauer in America\u003c\/i\u003e was published in 2015.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Ripon Bookstore","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44119560159277,"sku":"9781681378145","price":18.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0681\/0501\/1245\/files\/img_3b14fa20-6d9e-4b25-8abb-f3762aa03bc5.jpg?v=1756229843","url":"https:\/\/riponbookstore.com\/products\/ginster-9781681378145","provider":"Ripon Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}