Der Kanon (, "The Canon") or more precisely Marcel-Reich-Ranickis Kanon is a large anthology of exemplary works of German literature. Edited by the literary critic Marcel Reich-Ranicki (1920–2013), he called the anthology, announced on 18 June 2001 in the German news magazine Der Spiegel under the title "The Canon of worthwhile German Works", his magnum opus. The five parts appeared from 2002 to 2006 published by Insel Verlag: 1. Novels (2002), 2. Tales/Stories (2003), 3. Dramatic Works (2004), 4. Poetry (2005), and 5. Essays (2006). As expected, the anthology met with opposition and criticism, and even the idea of an anthology was questioned, but Reich-Ranicki called this questioning "incomprehensible, because the lack of a canon would mean relapse into barbarism. Reich-Ranicki sought to differentiate his anthology from previous compilations in his hope to imagine a "reader judge" such as teachers, students, librarians, who would need to draw from this canon because they were in the "first line of those who deal with literature professionally."
The edited anthology takes the series title, Der Kanon. Die deutsche Literatur (The Canon of German Literature) in book form with slip cases.
Der Kanon. Die deutsche Literatur. Romane. 20 Volumes (2002), Der Kanon. Die deutsche Literatur. Erzählungen. 10 Volumes and 1 Companion Volume (2003), Der Kanon. Die deutsche Literatur. Dramen. 8 Volumes and 1 Companion Volume (2004), Der Kanon. Die deutsche Literatur. Gedichte. 7 Volumes and 1 Companion Volume (2005), Der Kanon. Die deutsche Literatur. Essays. 5 Volumes und 1 Companion Volume (2006),
Main contents Early works The Nibelungenlied Walter von der Vogelweide: Poems Martin Luther, trans.: The Bible (excerpts) Andreas Gryphius: Poems Christian Hofmann von Hofmannswaldau: Poems
18th century Johann Christian Günther: Poems Gotthold Ephraim Lessing: Minna von Barnhelm; Hamburg Dramaturgy (excerpts); Nathan der Weise Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Die Leiden des jungen Werthers; Faust I; Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit (excerpts); Poems Friedrich Schiller: Kabale und Liebe "or" Maria Stuart; Die Schaubühne als eine moralische Anstalt Betrachtet (The Theatre considered as a Moral Institution) (excerpts), Don Carlos; On Naive and Sentimental Poetry, Wallenstein, Ballads.
19th century
Johann Peter Hebel: Schatzkästlein des rheinischen Hausfreundes (selections) Friedrich Hölderlin: Hyperion oder der Eremit in Griechenland (excerpts); Poems Novalis: Poems Friedrich von Schlegel: Essays E. T. A. Hoffmann: The Serapion Brethren (excerpts) Heinrich von Kleist: The Marquise of O, Michael Kohlhaas; The Prince of Homburg; Short Stories (selected) Clemens Brentano: Poems Adelbert von Chamisso: Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff: Poems Ferdinand Raimund: Der Verschwender August Graf von Platen: Poems Annette von Droste-Hülshoff: Die Judenbuche; Poems Heinrich Heine: Poems; Prose (selected) Eduard Mörike: Poems Georg Büchner: Dantons Tod; Woyzeck; Lenz Theodor Storm: Short Stories (selected) Gottfried Keller: Short Stories (selected) Theodor Fontane: Schach von Wuthenow; Frau Jenny Treibel or Der Stechlin; Effi Briest Friedrich Nietzsche: Essays
20th century Arthur Schnitzler: La Ronde; Leutnant Gustl; Professor Bernhardi Gerhart Hauptmann: Die Ratten Frank Wedekind: Frühlings Erwachen Stefan George: Poems Else Lasker-Schüler: Poems Heinrich Mann: Professor Unrat Christian Morgenstern: Gedichte Hugo von Hofmannsthal: Der Schwierige Karl Kraus: Essays Thomas Mann: Buddenbrooks; Tonio Kröger; Tristan; Der Tod in Venedig; Mario und der Zauberer; Essays Rainer Maria Rilke: Poems Hermann Hesse: Unterm Rad Carl Sternheim: Der Snob Robert Walser: Jakob von Gunten; Erzählungen Alfred Döblin: Die Ermordung einer Butterblume; Berlin Alexanderplatz Robert Musil: Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß; Tonka Franz Kafka: Der Process; Die Verwandlung; Ein Bericht für eine Akademie; In der Strafkolonie; Ein Hungerkünstler Gottfried Benn: Poems Georg Heym: Poems Georg Trakl: Poems Kurt Tucholsky: Feuilletons Joseph Roth: Radetzkymarsch; Die Legende vom heiligen Trinker; Stationschef Fallmerayer; Short Stories Bertolt Brecht: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder; Leben des Galilei; Kalendergeschichten (selections); Poems Erich Kästner: Gedichte Anna Seghers: Das siebte Kreuz; Der Ausflug der toten Mädchen Ödön von Horváth: Kasimir und Karoline Peter Huchel: Poems Wolfgang Koeppen: Tauben im Gras Günter Eich: Poems Max Frisch: Diary (excerpts); Homo faber; Biedermann und die Brandstifter; Montauk Arno Schmidt: Die Umsiedler; Seelandschaft mit Pocahontas Peter Weiss: Marat/Sade Heinrich Böll: Der Mann mit den Messern; Wanderer, kommst du nach Spa...; Doktor Murkes gesammeltes Schweigen Paul Celan: Poems Friedrich Dürrenmatt: Die Panne Ernst Jandl: Poems Ingeborg Bachmann: Poems Günter Grass: Die Blechtrommel (excerpts); Cat and Mouse Peter Rühmkorf: Poems Hans Magnus Enzensberger: Poems Thomas Bernhard: Holzfällen; Wittgensteins Neffe – Eine Freundschaft Uwe Johnson: Mutmassungen über Jakob (excerpts) Sarah Kirsch: Poems Wolf Biermann: Poems Jurek Becker: Jacob the Liar Robert Gernhardt: Poems
Novels Author Title Author Title Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Die Leiden des jungen Werthers Robert Musil Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törleß Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Die Wahlverwandtschaften Franz Kafka Der Prozeß E. T. A. Hoffmann Die Elixiere des Teufels Alfred Döblin Berlin Alexanderplatz Gottfried Keller Der grüne Heinrich Joseph Roth Radetzkymarsch Theodor Fontane Frau Jenny Treibel Anna Seghers Das siebte Kreuz Theodor Fontane Effi Briest Heimito von Doderer Die Strudlhofstiege Thomas Mann Buddenbrooks Wolfgang Koeppen Tauben im Gras Thomas Mann Der Zauberberg Günter Grass Die Blechtrommel Heinrich Mann Professor Unrat Max Frisch Montauk Hermann Hesse Unterm Rad Thomas Bernhard Holzfällen
Stories 180 Novellas, short Stories, Parables, Fairy Tales, Legends, and Kalendergeschichte.
Essays
The series of "essays" gave Reich-Ranicki much "grief." Even the choice of the title "essays" was hotly debated. Reich-Ranicki included not just essays in a classic sense, but also a wide variety of critical works including criticism of film, literature, music reviews, theater reviews, essays, speeches, diaries, letters, ephemera, and aphorisms, spanning both fictional and nonfictional literature. The term "essayistic" was coined for this purpose.
The "essay" canon contains 255 articles from 166 authors covering a wide variety of subject matter. It is divided into five parts: from Martin Luther to Arthur Schopenhauer (i.e. 16th–mid-19th centuries) from Leopold von Ranke to Rosa Luxemburg (mid-19th to early 20th centuries) from Heinrich Mann to Joseph Roth (early 20th century) from Bertold Brecht to Golo Mann (mid-20th century) from Max Frisch to Durs Grünbein (late 20th and early 21st centuries)
Adaptations
In 2015, the author Hannes Bajohr published his "novel" Durchschnitt (Average) based on Reich-Ranicki's novel canon. For his book, he analyzed the texts of the twenty volume novel-box of the series, calculated their average sentence length (18 words), and, with the help of a computer script, generated a book that only contained these average sentences. He then sorted them alphabetically in chapters according to the letters of the alphabet.
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