“The Berlin Stories” is a collection of stories set in Berlin during the 1930s prior to Hitler and the Nazi Party coming to power. The stories are based on the author’s own experiences in Berlin during that time. The stories are told from the first-person perspective with the narrator, and the character in the stories being the author himself.
“The Last of Mr. Norris” is a story about an eccentric fellow Englishman Mr. Norris who seems to be involved with some kind of suspicious trade. Mr. Norris pulls the narrator into his shady business, who is somewhat oblivious to the chaotic mess Mr. Norris tends to involve himself in. Mr. Norris leaves Berlin just in time before the suppression of the communist party by the Nazis ensues.
The last the narrator hears from Mr. Norris is him revealing that he is being chased by his menacing secretary Schmidt around the globe and asking the narrator what he’s done to deserve it. Other stories are set up similarly with eccentric characters including Sally Bowles from “Goodbye to Berlin”, and Otto Nowak from “The Nowaks”.
The narrator/author in these stories conveys the atmosphere of the city, with the slow build-up of tensions and deterioration of freedom and security. All the characters portrayed belong in a category that will have a difficult time surviving in Nazi Germany, with their eccentricity, vulnerability and desire for freedom of expression.
