Fabian: The Story of a Moralist

Play based on the novel of the same name by Erich Kästner

In 1969, Erich Kästner noted about this novel: “The book was published in 1931. The title ‘Going to the Dogs’, proposed by the author and initially tenaciously defended, was rejected by the publisher.”
But that wasn’t all – at the publisher’s behest, Kästner had to edit and significantly shorten the book so that it could appear in 1931 under the title Fabian: The Story of a Moralist. It was not until 2013 that the complete version was published under the title Kästner had favored.

Fabian, full name Jakob Fabian, drifts through Berlin in the late twenties and early thirties. He has a doctorate in German studies but earns his living writing advertising copy for a cigarette company. Otherwise, he wanders through the big city, sits in coffee houses and bars, and visits shady clubs and brothels.
Unlike his friend Labude, who supports the communists, he generally holds back his opinions on political developments in Berlin and the world. Eventually, Fabian falls in love, and with his relationship with Cornelia, his life seems to have found a goal and an anchor. But then he loses his job and must join the ranks of the unemployed; Labude commits suicide because of a stupid prank, and Fabian’s relationship with Cornelia falls apart.
Berlin has now lost all its appeal for him. Going to the Dogs is a satirically tinged panorama of the times and social mores that appears shockingly relevant again today.