Dagmar Nick Books

This is a retelling of Adam's legendary first wife from her own point of view. Dagmar Nick, one of Germany's most beloved author-poets, spins the tale with imagination, insight, and compelling language, all carefully preserved in this authorised English translation. This bilingual edition, with an informative introduction, offers stimulation reading and access to contemporary German vocabulary and grammatical structures, making it especially well suited for students of German.

Dagmar Nick, a multiple literary prize-winner in her native Germany, has turned her considerable talents to researching her fascinating Jewish ancestry. She brings to life her family history through the letters, diaries and documents that they left behind, and shows how—despite being excluded from society, forced to earn their livelihoods in ‘unchristian’ trades, and victimized over the centuries—they rose through hard work and commitment to family to become not only wealthy, but also indispensable to the nobility as suppliers of luxury wares and as financiers and as advisers. Author Nick uses the Goldschmidt archives in Denmark and Glueckel von Hameln’s diary to describe their lives on a personal level. She explains the difficulties they faced in business, especially against a background of ostracism, and harsh taxation. The final chapters show how under more liberal Prussian rule, they were allowed to become doctors, scientists, and even famous philanthropists such as Lina Morgenstern and Sigismund Asch. Nick describes not only her own complicated family history, but also shows us that many families have similar shadows that can be captured.

Älter als die Erschaffung der Welt ist nach jüdisch-christlichem Verständnis der Mythos von der altbabylonischen Dämonin Lilíth, die als erste Frau Adams gilt. Von ihr, der Verfüherin, lernt Adam die Liebe. Doch als Eva erscheint, hat Lilíth das paradiesische Spielfeld zu räumen, verdammt, fortan eine Schlange zu sein, ein Tier ohne Stimme, das nicht bezeugen kann, was es einst sah.

Ein ländlicher Weg wird beschrieben, geprägt von der Hitze des Mittags und der Präsenz von Rindern hinter einem Zaun. Erinnerungen und Erlebnisse scheinen über den Weg geweht zu werden, während der letzte Fußabdruck weit zurückliegt.

Ein neuer Band der Gedichte des Autors in seiner Werkausgabe.