Author(s): Cees Nooteboom

Travel | Germany

Roads to Berlin maps the changing landscape of Germany, from the period before the fall of the Wall to the present. Written and updated over the course of several decades, an eyewitness account of the pivotal events of 1989 gives way to a perceptive appreciation of its difficult passage to reunification.

Nooteboom's writings on politics, people, architecture and culture are as digressive as they are eloquent; his innate curiosity takes him through the landscapes of Heine and Goethe, steeped in Romanticism and mythology, and to Germany's baroque cities. With an outsider's objectivity he has crafted an intimate portrait of the country to its present day.

Contents: List of illustrations. PART I - Prologue: Crossing the Border. Intermezzo in the Third Person: Vestigia pedis. Second Intermezzo: Ancient Times. PART II - Berlin Suite. Dead Aeroplanes and Eagles Everywhere. Village within the Wall. Rheinsberg: An Intermezzo. Return to Berlin. PART III. PART IV - A Visit to the Chancellor. Epilogue. Glossary including biographical and other explanatory notes. Index. Afterword to Part I. Notes on this Edition.