(#162895) TURMSTADT. ROMAN. Hans Richter.

TURMSTADT. ROMAN. Leipzig: Ernst Keils Nachfolger (August Scherl) G.m.b.H., [1926]. Octavo, pp. [1-4] 5-272 [273] [274: blank], original brown cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, top edge stained black. Second printing. Published around the same time as Thea von Harbou's METROPOLIS (1926), Turnstadt is Richter's version of a city that "eats men" who have fallen victim to the "Moloch machine." The city is modern, but soulless. Because the city's huge demand for energy cannot be met, the tireless Klaus North, a German engineer attempting to turn Greenland into an idyllic, industrial utopia, tries to extract coal from water. During an experiment using the underground waters of the Balkans, he finds a mysterious stone with nuclear power. This primordial matter, when exposed to sunlight, emits heat, light, and other forms of radiation. North speculates that huge amounts of this material, called Milanit, can be found in the arctic regions. But this assumption proves to be wrong. The Milanit actually comes from a comet. North cannot solve all of the the Earth's energy problems, but there is enough Milanit for a new, more humane city called Polstadt. Brandt, Der deutsche Zukunftsroman 1918-1948, p. 366. Fisher, Fantasy and Politics: Visions of the Future in the Weimar Republic, pp. 128; 153. Lexikon 2, p. 219. Bloch (2002) 2576. Nagl, p. 259. A bright, nearly fine copy in very good pictorial dust jacket with wear and shallow loss along top and bottom edges. Rare in jacket. (#162895).

Price: $350.00

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Printing identification statement for this book:
"6. bis 8. Tausend" on the title page.