Berlin Alexander­platz

Decency seems hardly worthwhile for someone with his past, according to the bitter realisation of Franz Biberkopf, a cement and transport worker, fence and manslayer. As a torn and lost outsider, he finds himself on the wrong end of the stick. After serving four years in prison due to manslaughter of his girlfriend Ida, he is now released. What is he to do with his new freedom? How can he carry on? At first, Biberkopf manages to eke out a living and gain foothold on the job market. Soon, however, he quickly gets entangled in criminal machinations and sexual adventures, resulting in the loss of his arm, his sanity and his freedom. Overwhelmed by a cruel stroke of fate, he collapses utterly and ends up in a "lunatic asylum" in Berlin-Buch. It almost appears as if Franz Biberkopf is cursed once he starts relying and trusting on other people. In his case only hoplessness can be relied on.
In autumn 1929, the Berlin doctor and novelist Alfred Döblin created the trope of the accidental hanger-on using linguistic and sensual imagery. The criminal case of a man afflicted by misfortune oscillates between social reportage and mystical exaggeration. Referencing the Old Testament book of Job, Döblin traces the injustices of life in all its harshness and mercilessness. Moreover, he depicts fragments of the reality of his time just as they are: fleeting.