The works of Irmgard Keun present a remarkable literary document of German life and times from the late Weimar Republic to the postwar period. Keun's novels interweave ironic insights into the psychology of the middle and lower middle classes with...

Translated into English as "The Artificial Silk Girl", is one of the most famous of Germany's `Neue Sachlichkeiten' works. This particular novel, in which the protagonist, Doris, a young working class German girl from Cologne, who dreams of the glitz and glamour and bright lights of the big city, Berlin.