A forgotten classic from amongst the books burned by the Nazis in 1933.
Vintage Books have 30 reading group special edition proofs (3 reading group sets) of the lost Classic Schlump to give away. Groups will also receive a press release with discussion points and are encouraged to tweet their responses to @vintagebooks using #Schlump
About the book
‘The best of German war books so far’J. B. Priestley
Schlump is a romantic, a chancer and a dreamer. It’s 1915 and he’s seventeen so, naturally, he volunteers for war. In France he is assigned an administrative position in a small town and has a marvellous time. But when he arrives at the trenches, where death and mindless destruction are everyday realities, he begins to understand the true nature of war. Written in the same year as All Quiet on the Western Front, Schlump is a charming, funny and profoundly moving novel about one teenage boy’s progression through the First World War.
Published as a beautiful flapped paperback, this brand new translation by Jamie Bulloch brings out the wit and energy of the original text, liberating it from the archaic language of the first English translation.
About the author
Unknown until 2013, Hanns Herbert Grimm published Schlump – his semi-autobiographical, anti-war novel – anonymously in German in 1928. In 1933 the book was banned by the Nazis. To avoid detection, Grimm joined the Nazi party and worked as a language interpreter during the Second World War. He made every effort to conceal his authorship, including bricking the manuscript into the wall of his house. In 1950 he was called to a meeting in Weimar by government officials – he never revealed what was discussed. Two days later he committed suicide.
