Berlin in lights: the diaries of Count Harry Kessler, 1918-1937

Description

Berlin in Lights, chosen as a New York Times Notable Book, is the collection of German aristocrat Harry Kessler's diaries between the two world wars. Count Harry Kessler (1868-1937), the son of a German banker and an Irish beauty, was a diplomat and publisher who moved easily among the worlds of art, politics, and society. He lived in Berlin but traveled throughout Europe, always with a keen eye to the political climate of the times. His diaries encompass an extraordinary variety of people: Einstein engages him in long discussions on his theories, and Josephine Baker dances naked in Kessler's drawing room. Kessler had lunch with Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill, and Erik Satie, and dinner with Max Reinhardt, George Grosz, Virginia Woolf, Jean Cocteau, and Andre Gide, to name a few. His diaries encapsulate this tumultuous time frame, recording at first hand the agonizing collapse and death of Weimar Germany and the arrival of the Nazis. Beautifully written, the diaries provide rare insight into the frenetic, constantly changing mood and give us a brilliant portrait of Germany and Europe between the wars. "What distinguishes his diary is Kessler's distanziert tone -- its elegance, precision and shrewdness." -- Iain Bamforth, The New York Times Book Review Introduction IX Translator's Note XIV 1918 1 1919 49 1920 115 1921 135 1922 149 1923 205 1924 231 1925 237 1926 271 1927 309 1928 341 1929 359 1930 377 1931 403 1932 409 1933 439 1935 465 1936 475 1937 481