Summary of The Artificial Silk Girl
The Artificial Silk Girl tells the story of Doris, a young German woman who moves from a town in the Rhineland to Berlin in 1931, dreaming of becoming a famous actress. Told through Doris’s diary entries, the novel follows her ambitions, financial struggles and relationships with various men, whom she hopes will give her access to a luxurious lifestyle.
Reasons to read The Artificial Silk Girl
The Artificial Silk Girl offers an engaging and at times humorous portrait of Germany during the final years of the Weimar Republic. It focuses on a somewhat superficial but resourceful woman with few prospects, trying to find happiness and success in a fractured society marked by class divisions. Convinced that prosperous men will offer her the best route to a better life, Doris soon discovers the precarious nature of such dependence. The novel vividly depicts Berlin, capturing its glamour, nightlife, cafés and restaurants alongside the darker realities of financial insecurity, hunger and homelessness. Rather than being driven by a conventional plot, The Artificial Silk Girl unfolds through the protagonist’s personal and fragmentary reflections. The novel became a bestseller after its publication in Germany in 1932 but was banned by the Nazis the following year. Other novels by Irmgard Keun include After Midnight and Gilgi, One of Us.
Setting: Berlin – Cologne (Germany)
Book set in Germany: Berlin and an unnamed town in the Rhineland (probably Cologne).
Browse more books set in Berlin – Explore more books set in Germany
Original title: Das kunstseidene Mädchen
Year of publication: 1932
Nr of pages: 224
