View Full Version : Das Boot - Is this the original (English Version) ?
vanjast
01-09-13, 01:54 PM
I've just been on a 700+km roundabout (to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_African_Large_Telescope) and surroundings and found this book in an obscure shop in possibly, the remotest part of this country...
My question - Is it an original ? - It looks like it.
I started reading, and I found myself reading the film script of Das Boot, word for word ??
Herr-Berbunch
01-09-13, 02:19 PM
Yes, it is. A great read.
Like most book to movie conversions it's not exactly the same but both, IMO, are great.
slam1997
01-09-13, 02:30 PM
looks like an old version - the best version!
Don't wait and get it! Take care of this masterpiece of german literature! :o
vanjast
01-09-13, 02:41 PM
looks like an old version - the best version!
Don't wait and get it! Take care of this masterpiece of german literature! :o
Published in 1974 - English translation.
I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. I was about to walk out the shop with two old RAF books, when 'U-Boat' caught my eye from about 10 feet away.
'Hang on a moment', as I lunged towards the book, grabbed it and read the cover piece - that was it = 40 ZARs (approx 5 USDs).
:)
Randomizer
01-09-13, 02:54 PM
My copy is a 1976 Fontana paperback, bought new that's now held together with an elastic band. The binding failed years ago due to many readings.
Time to buy a replacement I guess so this is a nice reminder. Thanks.
Sailor Steve
01-09-13, 03:09 PM
I have a fairly new reprint of the same version.
http://www.amazon.com/Das-Boot-Boat-Lothar-G%C3%BCnther-Buchheim/dp/0304352314/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357762004&sr=1-1&keywords=das+boot
There will be some variations, mostly characters cut out to make the movie more understandable. For the most part the movie is very faithful to the book.
This is the hardcover edition (Knopf 1975) I found about 15 years ago.
105
lafeeverted
01-09-13, 04:45 PM
I have the same 1975 First American Edition
its sad that after such success of Das Boot that his other works have not been translated in to english - i desperatly would love to read them.
AbeBooks.com has 3 hardcover 1975 first edition copies. One is a first printing, the other 2 are fourth printing. They are not cheap $80 for the first printing and $60 each for the other two. I have done business with them and am a happy customer.
:salute:
Dronston
01-10-13, 03:46 AM
No doubt known by many on this forum, "Iron Coffins" by Herbert A. Werner is also a great read!
Sailor Steve
01-10-13, 05:19 AM
No doubt known by many on this forum, "Iron Coffins" by Herbert A. Werner is also a great read!
As long as you keep in mind that it is also fiction, only loosely based on fact.
Dronston
01-10-13, 05:57 AM
As long as you keep in mind that it is also fiction, only loosely based on fact.
Herbert Werner (born 13 May 1920), was a Kriegsmarine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsmarine) (German Navy) officer who, by his own reckoning, was one of only about "two dozen captains still alive" at the end of World War II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II). He served in five U-boats, as an Ensign, Executive Officer and Captain in the Atlantic Ocean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Ocean), the English Channel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Channel), the North Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea), the Baltic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Sea), the Norwegian Sea (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Sea) and the Mediterranean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mediterranean).
He survived the sinking of U-612 in the Baltic and the loss of U-415 in Brest harbour.
At the end of the war, he was detained in turn by British, American and French troops before making his way back to Germany in late autumn 1945. He moved to the United States in 1957 and is now an American citizen.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Werner#cite_note-uboat-1)[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Werner#cite_note-2)
Werner later wrote a best-selling memoir of life in the U-boat service, titled "Iron Coffins".
Herr-Berbunch
01-10-13, 06:08 AM
Still has heavy 'poetic license' though, and who can blame him?
Still has heavy 'poetic license' though, and who can blame him?
...alot of his commrades and Jurgen Rohwer:woot:
Sailor Steve
01-10-13, 01:07 PM
Herbert Werner (born 13 May 1920),
Werner later wrote a best-selling memoir of life in the U-boat service, titled "Iron Coffins".
And he "stretched the truth" considerably. Most of the events he claims for himself have been shown to have happened to someone else, or not at all. We have had many discussions about this in the past. His book is best taken as fiction.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=197019&highlight=herbert+werner
Dronston
01-10-13, 02:05 PM
And he "stretched the truth" considerably. Most of the events he claims for himself have been shown to have happened to someone else, or not at all. We have had many discussions about this in the past. His book is best taken as fiction.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=197019&highlight=herbert+werner
Lol, thx for the link, I wasn't aware of the "controversy". I simply read the book and enjoyed it but I agree Das Boot is a much better book. (and sorry for hijacking this thread TS)
its sad that after such success of Das Boot that his other works have not been translated in to english - i desperatly would love to read them.
I do have another one of Buchheim's books in English: "U-Boat War" that I got the same time I found Das Boot. Published by Knopf (again) in 1978.
Sailor Steve
01-10-13, 03:34 PM
I do have another one of Buchheim's books in English: "U-Boat War" that I got the same time I found Das Boot. Published by Knopf (again) in 1978.
Yep. That's his actual real life picture book. I have that one too. He also wrote two sequels to Das Boot, and neither one of them has ever been translated.
Yep. That's his actual real life picture book. I have that one too. He also wrote two sequels to Das Boot, and neither one of them has ever been translated.
Ok I didn't know that.
lafeeverted
01-10-13, 10:14 PM
Good book, also in my library
vanjast
01-19-13, 05:59 PM
Finished the book in a few days...
When they approached La Rochelle I was happy that the patrol had finally ended, I was happy that the ASW aircraft nailed the other sub, and was, when the allied air-raid happened as they docked. I was happy that the dockyard got nailed... but Sh1t I was really unhappy that 'my shipmates' and the 'Old Man' died in that raid... that didn't go down well.... It was Xmas dammit
An incredible book.. I couldn't put it down.
:arrgh!:
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