This is a book of 13 self-contained stories which are nevertheless lifted from Jahnn's longer works. Most of the stories are in the form of myths or sagas, as such the behavior of most of the characters seems sometimes illogical. If you think of other myths however the behavior makes more sense. The stories elucidate some of Jahnn's recurring themes of twinning, putrefaction, life after death, Atheism, Communism, etc. There is one very nice conventional story called The Twins. The stories are drawn from Perrudja or Fluss ohne Ufer (River without Banks), except on story Kebad Kenya which comes from The Ship (incorrectly attributed to Fuss ohne Ufer). Each story has a brief paragraph by the translator giving a capsule of the themes of the particular story. These stories were actually compiled by Jahnn for this collection. There are a few grammatical and spelling errors.

The book has an excellent footnoted Introduction which gives a short biography and overview of Jahnn's writing and the recurring themes in his works. The whole thing reads like a masters English thesis, which it probably is. There is also a good bibliography where unfortunately most of the referenced works are not in English or in obscure journals.

I don't know who puts this data in or who edits these entries but the data for this book is all incorrect. Wrong publishing date (1984), wrong number of pages (165), etc.

I would only recommend this book for those specifically interested in Jahnn's work. ( )

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Jahnn-Treize-histoires-peu-rassurantes/196732

> Peut-être, Jahnn est-il le cas le plus typique d'un auteur dévoré par ses démons : tiraillé par une double vocation d'artisan et d'intellectuel, par une double identité d'homme et d'enfant, par une double perception de la vie, expressionniste et mystique ; un individu capable de tout, nihiliste et plein de vitalité, puéril et mythique...
—Danieljean (Babelio) ( )

Dergelijke verhalen heb ik nog nooit gelezen, zoveel is zeker. Wat een werelden bouwt orgelbouwer en expressionist Hans Henny Jahnn (1894-1959)! Deze bundeling uit 1981 biedt een mooie staalkaart van een oeuvre dat nog zeven hemels verder reikt. Ach wee, was mijn Duits maar beter...
Paarden, cijfers, de natuur, deernes en Germaanse mythologie zijn prominent aanwezig, maar wat vooral opvalt is de unieke stijl. Een stem als een goddelijke schepper, een taal die klokken doet verbleken. Expressionisme ten top, maar oh zo modern en compleet grandioos. ( )

Contents:

Introduction by Gerda Jordan (21 pages)

1. Ragna and Nils (from Perrudja)
2. The Slave's Story (from Perrudja)
3. The Watchmaker (from Fluß ohne Ufer)
4. Sassanidian King (from Perrudja)
5. The Gardener (from Fluß ohne Ufer)
6. The Story of the Twins (from Perrudja)
7. A Boy Weeps (from Perrudja)
8. Kebad Kenya (from Fluß ohne Ufer)
9. The Marmalade Eaters (from Perrudja)
10. Mov (from Fluß ohne Ufer)
11. A Master Selects His Servant (from Fluß ohne Ufer)
12. The Diver (from Fluß ohne Ufer)
13. Stolen Horses (from Fluß ohne Ufer)

I haven't read The Ship recently enough to know which selections from Fluß ohne Ufer (besides Kebad Kenya) are contained in that volume. I suspect at least a few of them are from Die Niederschrift des Gustav Anias Horn, which would make them the only sections of that book in English.