Detailing the comprehensive and multi-layered story of adaptations of German literature on film between 1896-2010, this indispensable study shows how these adaptations emerge from and continue to shape the social, artistic, and commercial aspects of film history. The History of German Literature on Film includes an online comprehensive chronology of film adaptations spanning the history of the cinema, allowing students to follow the main trunk of analysis and to quickly contextualize adaptations in film history, providing opportunities for independent research.

Not being considered the producers of a lesser art, German filmmakers have often displayed an uncommon confidence regarding the use of literature for film, and their adaptation projects have had a significant impact on the history of German film from its inception in the late 19th century to the present day. German literary texts have been adapted by the most respected filmmakers – from Georges Melies and Fritz Lang to Werner Herzog and Tom Tykwer – to great national and international acclaim. In a number of cases, an outstanding literary work is today remembered due to its adaptation – for example Heinrich Mann’s novel Professor Unrat/Small Town Tyrant (1905), which was a success in German-speaking countries prior to World War I, but became an international sensation when The Blue Angel (1930) starring Marlene Dietrich and Emil Jannings hit the cinema screens.