Books set in Southern Germany

Best Books Set in Southern Germany – This article offers an overview of novels set in Southern Germany, focusing on the states of Bavaria (Bayern) and Baden-Württemberg.

Books set in Bavaria (Bayern)

Bavaria, located in the south-east of Germany, is the country’s largest federal state and its second most populous one, after North Rhine-Westphalia. Major cities and cultural centres include Munich, Nuremberg, Augsburg, Regensburg, Ingolstadt, Würzburg, Fürth, and Erlangen. Bavaria borders Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, and is known for a strong regional identity that is also reflected in its literature.

Important writers from Bavaria include the playwright Bertolt Brecht and the novelists Lion Feuchtwanger (author of The Oppermanns and Success) and Klaus Mann (author of Mephisto). Thomas Mann, father of Klaus Mann (Nobel Prize laureate and author of Buddenbrooks, The Magic Mountain, Doctor Faustus, and Death in Venice), lived in Munich for many years, as did his brother Heinrich Mann (author of Professor Unrat) and Paul Heyse (Nobel Prize laureate and author of many novels and short stories).

Contemporary writers linked to Bavaria include Patrick Süskind (author of Perfume: The Story of a Murderer), Martin Walser (author of Runaway Horse), Daniel Kehlmann (author of Measuring the World) and W. G. Sebald (author of Austerlitz).

Novels set in Munich (München):

The Father of a Murderer by Alfred Andersch

- Setting: Munich
- Year of publication: 1980
- Original title: Der Vater eines Mörders
- 112 pages

Pigeons on the Grass by Wolfgang Koeppen

- Setting: Munich
- Year of publication: 1951
- Original title: Tauben im Gras
- 208 pages
- Notable: Wolfgang Koeppen, the author, was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize.

Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann

- Setting: Various places in Germany, including Munich, Leipzig, and the fictitious Pfeiffering (modelled on Polling bei Weilheim); Palestrina (Italy)
- Year of publication: 1947
- Original title: Doktor Faustus: Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde
- 580 pages
- Notable: The author, Thomas Mann, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and the Goethe Prize.

Read the full book page: Doctor Faustus

Diary of a Man in Despair by Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen

- Setting: Munich and Upper Bavaria
- Year of publication: 1947
- Original title: Tagebuch eines Verzweifelten
- 240 pages

Address Unknown by Kathrine Kressmann Taylor

- Setting: Munich and San Francisco
- Year of publication: 1938
- Original title: Address Unknown
- 96 pages

Read the full book page: Address Unknown

Success: Three Years in the Life of a Province by Lion Feuchtwanger

- Setting: Munich; Garmisch-Partenkirchen
- Year of publication: 1930
- Original title: Erfolg. Drei Jahre Geschichte einer Provinz
- 741 pages

Read the full book page: Success: Three Years in the Life of a Province

Novels set in Dachau:

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

- Setting: Molching, a fictional town near Munich, likely based on Dachau.
- Year of publication: 2006
- Original title: The Book Thief
- 624 pages
- Notable: Winner of the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (the German youth literature prize) and the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book.

Read the full book page: The Book Thief

Books set in Baden-Württemberg

Baden-Württemberg is a state in south-western Germany, bordering France and Switzerland. Its largest cities and cultural centres include Stuttgart, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Heidelberg, Ulm, Heilbronn, Konstanz, and Baden-Baden. The region encompasses Swabian landscapes, the Black Forest, the Neckar valley, and Lake Constance.

Important writers from Baden-Württemberg include Friedrich Schiller, Friedrich Hölderlin, and Hermann Hesse (Nobel Prize laureate and author of Demian, Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and Narcissus and Goldmund).

The Reader by Bernhard Schlink

- Setting: An unnamed city, likely inspired by Heidelberg
- Year of publication: 1995
- Original title: Der Vorleser
- 218 pages
- Notable: Winner of the Hans Fallada Prize and the Grinzane Cavour Prize.

Summer in Baden-Baden by Leonid Tsypkin

- Setting: Baden-Baden
- Year of publication: 1982
- Original title: Лето в Бадене
- 240 pages

Runaway Horse by Martin Walser

- Setting: Lake Constance (Bodensee) in southern Germany, likely Überlingen-Nußdorf.
- Year of publication: 1978
- Original title: Ein fliehendes Pferd
- 109 pages
- Notable: The author, Marin Walser, was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, and the Hermann Hesse Prize.

Read the full book page: Runaway Horse

A Legacy by Sybille Bedford

- Setting: Baden (Feldkirch); Berlin; southern France
- Year of publication: 1956
- Original title: A Legacy
- 384 pages
- Notable: The author, Sybille Bedford, received the Golden PEN Award for her lifetime services to literature.

Read the full book page: A Legacy

Narcissus and Goldmund by Hermann Hesse

- Setting: Mariabronn Monastery (inspired by Maulbronn Monastery in Baden-Württemberg) and a bishopric town that is probably Würzburg (Bavaria)
- Year of publication: 1930
- Original title: Narziß und Goldmund
- 320 pages
- Notable: The author, Hemann Hesse, received numerous literary accolades, including the Nobel Prize for literature, the Goethe Prize, and the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.