Crise do romance – crise de um país: Berlin Alexanderplatz, de Alfred Döblin

Abstract

Döblin’s mainwork, published in 1929, is considered simultaneously as a Bildungsroman and as a modern epos. By following the way of life of the protagonist Franz Biberkopf, we get to know the central square which symbolizes the capital of Germany. The modern metropolis is described through a montage of multiple elements, especially the bars as meeting places and the newspapers, providing an immersion into the social and political atmosphere of the Republic of Weimar, at the time of the big economic crisis of 1929, which at the end conducted the country into dictatorship. In comparison with the costumary daily crimes, in which also the protagonist is involved, are evoqued the crimes in the political sphere. The murder of a young woman is narrated showing in the background an air raid, suggesting that the big war of 1914-1918 would have a continuation in a second world war. Based on the main characteristic of Franz Biberkopf – his stupidity, together with arrogance and ingenuity – is shown an analogy with the stupidity of people, as described by Robert Musil in 1937. This study ends with a critical analysis of the moralizing atitude of Döblin’s narrator.