The dehumanizing social collective in Martin Walser

Abstract

<p>The following thesis pertains to five short stories written by the German author, Martin Walser. I have translated these works into English. The first four short stories, "Ein Flugzeug über dem Haus", "Ich suchte eine Frau", "Der Umzug", and "Die letzte Matinee", are part of a collection originally entitled Ein Flugzeug libel' dem Haus which was published in 1955. Although I had previously translated "Del' Umzug" for a graduate course, I have made considerable changes and improvements in this newly revised translation and therefore have decided to include it too with these other stories. The last story, "Bolzer, ein Familienleben", was part of a second collection put into print nine years later under the title Lügemzeschichten.</p> <p>Finally, I have critically analysed these five short stories in an essay, by explaining Walser's main concern of the depersonalized social collective and by examining Walser's style and how he emphatically expresses through language the grotesqueness of the anitsocial attitude of the collective.</p>