1 In nine parts Alfred Doeblin (1878–1957) narrates the story of Franz Biberkopf, which takes place in Berlin in the 1920s. As Alexander Stephan says in the foreword to the novel—first published in Germany in 1929—it "ranks among the masterpieces of modern literature."

2 This reprint of the 1961 English version of the novel could hardly have been translated by a person more competent and knowledgeable than Eugene Jolas. Jolas not only had first-hand experience of the hectic, yet fascinating life in big European cities, but he also knew James Joyce and edited his works, and was acquainted with many avant-garde writers of the 1920s. In addition, Jolas had ample experience as a translator and journalist, which enabled him to grasp the atmosphere of Berlin's underprivileged society in detailed descriptions as well as in dialogues, interior monologues, and general quotations. The latter in particular prove Jolas's thorough knowledge of both languages, as proverbs and word puns, being extremely difficult to transfer from one language into another, are very well captured and translated.

3 Worthwhile mentioning are a number of illustrations from Rainer Werner Fassbinder's film version of the novel, which are grouped in the center of the book, making this edition especially attractive. Due to the poor quality of the paper of the book, however, the film stills, unfortunately, are of poor quality as well.

4 When Alfred Doeblin wrote Berlin Alexanderplatz. The Story of Franz Biberkopf during the 1920s, he was still practicing medicine in a working-class area of Berlin, and thus had a thorough knowledge of the activities around Alexanderplatz. He also was acquainted with the prison director of the penitentiary Tegel, which he visited on several occasions. The novel proves Doeblin's strong interest in an authentic setting and his concern with a realistic picture of the acting characters, whose innermost feelings and emotions appear primarily through interior monologues, thus expressing the isolation in an industrialized mass society and conveying a picture of working-class life in the big cities of the Weimar Republic.

5 The novel starts out with Franz Biberkopf being released from prison and returning to his fellows in the Alexanderplatz area: His reaction at the prison gate—only hesitantly does he step away from the safe gate out into the city and its many streets—indicates his fear of not being able to stay out of trouble in the future; yet, he is determined to return to his working-class neighborhood and never again get in trouble with the law. This is what the book is all about: the constant struggle and being overwhelmed by fate. Biberkopf's good intentions are boycotted again and again, and in over six hundred pages the reader experiences how fate tosses "our man" around. At the end the author tells us that "the old world must crumble" and that while "for one the road goes straight, for another it goes to the side"(635). Franz Biberkopf tries very hard to lead a decent life, yet he stumbles again and again in a scary, dangerous, and rapidly changing world that seems to be determined by fate, which tyrannizes Biberkopf.

6 At the end of the novel, Doeblin comments on Biberkopf's destiny and the society in which he lives. His story is embedded in a modern, hectic society that overwhelms and dominates people whose only choice is to trod along. The novel provides the reader with a deep insight into life in the mass society of the Weimar Republic.