Translation Project: Borchert

At some point last semester Jared introduced me to Wolfgang Borchert (1921-1947). At the end of the Second World War and in the immediate postwar period, Borchert rapidly produced an impressive body of work before dying of sickness contracted while serving on the Eastern Front. His play, Draussen vor der Tür (Outside in Front of the Door), was first performed on stage the day after he died.

I started reading Borchert's collection of short stories, An diesem Dienstag (On this Tuesday), a month or so ago, and I thought it would be an interesting exercise to translate some of them and post them on this blog. The stories deal with soldiers' lives on the Eastern Front and with their challenges reintegrating into postwar society. They extremely short, usually only a few pages long, and written in a rhythmic, minimalist style that sometimes seems more like poetry than prose.

There are nineteen short stories in On this Tuesday. I will post the stories one at a time, as I translate them. Enjoy!