In their translations of a novel set in this city, both Michael Hofmann and Eugene Jolas use the archaic word “yclept” (“ee-KLEPT”) in an oft-repeated lyric that compares Death to a “mower” and declares, “soon will he slash, man must bear the gash.” For 10 points each:
[10e] An Alfred Döblin novel is titled for what city’s Alexander Square?
ANSWER: Berlin [accept Berlin Alexanderplatz]
[10m] Near the end of Berlin Alexanderplatz, Franz Biberkopf “lift[s] himself up again to receive [Death]” while in one of these places. A collection of manuscripts written in millimeter-tall letters in one of these places has been translated by Susan Bernofsky.
ANSWER: insane asylums [or insane asyla, mental hospitals, or psychiatric hospitals; accept sanatoriums; accept Buch asylum, Herisau asylum, or Herisau sanatorium, or the sanatorium of Appenzell; prompt on hospitals or clinics] (The second clue refers to Robert Walser’s microscripts.)
[10h] A short chapter between Franz’s “death” and “rebirth” depicts Death’s defeat of a person named for this place. Döblin’s next novel, titled for this place, is about the wanderings of the forgotten god Konrad.
ANSWER: Babylon [accept the Whore of Babylon; accept The Babylonian Exile or Babylonische Wandrung]
<Arya Karthik, European Literature>