MOUNTAINS, SEAS AND GIANTS aka BERGE MEERE UND GIGANTEN (1924) – Written by Alfred Döblin, later famous for the novel Berlin Alexanderplatz. A 2021 translation of the book uses the title Mountains Oceans Giants: A Novel of the 27th Century.
I wanted to make sure I made my blog post about this work during its Centennial year and I’m squeezing it in with a little time to spare. Berge Meere und Giganten is quite a piece of work, ranging as it does from standard Future History themes to dystopian settings and ultimately an Earth ravaged by wild and grotesque abominations of nature unleashed by reckless experimentation and terraforming.
The novel is almost Dune-like in its environmental concerns and its epic scope, in this case from shortly after World War One to the 2600s AD. Given Döblin’s experimental use of language I would have loved to read a review by James Joyce if he had ever read this novel.
Berge Meere und Giganten is broken down into nine main sections: Continue reading
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