German lit classics 🥨🍻
this is a list consisting of some German books that are considered classics by the internet (and also me) in their original language. some books may be by Austrian/Swiss authors but they had an impact on German literature. it's a work in progress, so let me know what books I’m missing 🫡
created by lunarnaut
last updated November, 2025
Comments
What about Siddharta by Herman Hesse and Kabale und Liebe by Schiller?
Oh and maybe Der Wunschpunsch?
I’m gonna be honest and say I’ve never heard of the books but I do know the authors so 🫡 I’ll add them in a sec eta: actually I do know der wunschpunsch how could I forget omg
I had to read the first two in school so I thought they might fit the list 🙂
yeah the books I read in school or performed as a play honestly made it first onto the list!! but I was kind of unlucky with my teachers making me read books that were … not great but also aren’t even considered classics so I can’t add them 😂
I honestly can't remember a single book I really enjoyed in school 😭
I just remembered a few more: Mephisto by Klaus Mann, Die verlohrene Ehre der Katharina Blum by Heinrich Böll and Der Vorleser by Bernhard Schlink 🙂
tintenherz und die unendliche geschichte 😍😍😍😍😍
Core childhood memory unlocked! 😭🥺😍 I also loooved the movie!
Not you feeding into the stereotypes and including beer and pretzels in the title 😭😂
listEN I am Bavarian so 🫣
Hahaha oh no that's what I suspected 😭😭 Well at least the list put me on a quest of adding my physical books on here that I've read ages ago.
As a Bavarian myself I don’t think we’ll ever fully leave the stereotypes behind, but I feel bad that’s often the only things people think of Germany 🫠
Yes exactly, but I mean they exist for a reason 🤷🏻♀️
Not me just scrolling through, seeing this and getting really excited. Be right back, I need to tick a few things off. 😝😍
I'd also suggest books by Johann Nestroy bc I think they'd fit the criteria? "Der Talisman", "Der böse Geist Lumpazivagabundus", "Einen Jux will er sich machen". Also "Maria Stuart" by Friedrich Schiller? And "Leonce und Lena" by Georg Büchner? "Die Judenbuche" by Annette von Droste-Hülshoff? "Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre" and "Die Wahlverwandschaften" by Goethe? "Minna von Barnhelm" by Lessing? And maybe "Schachnovelle" by Stefan Zweig?
Tbh, we read most/all of those in school or as an assignment 😅
Maria Stuart is already on the List (because I personally had to read that one too lol) but I’ll add the others later when I’m home 🫡
Oops, I totally forgot I even marked it as read just now. My bad. 😬🤦🏻♀️
Yay, nice. 😍 Thanks. 👍🏻🫶🏻
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