This city of the future encompasses two worlds: that of the hedonistic ruling class and that of a segregated subculture, toilers in a mechanized underworld who labor to provide the rich with their pleasures. When a charismatic leader arises, she seeks a savior to unite the disparate social orders. "Between the brain that plans and the hands that build," she declares, "there must be a mediator―the heart." Thea von Harbou, creator of the screenplay for Fritz Lang's iconic 1927 film, wrote this novel to expand upon the movie's ideas and concepts. Vivid in description, rich in characterization and symbolism, the story draws upon ancient myths to form a compelling vision of the future. Noted science-fiction authority Forrest J. Ackerman hailed the book as "a work of genius," and a century after its initial publication Metropolis continues to captivate readers.

Metropolis (Dover Literature: Science Fiction/Fantasy)

Literature & Fiction

Von Harbou, Thea

United States

Dover Publications

Metropolis

Genre Fiction

Donning Company/publishers

The 75th Anniverary edition of Thea von Harbou's classic, the basis for van Harbou's screenplay for Fritz Lang's ground-breaking 1926 Science Fiction Epic of the same name. This edition of the novel is "stillustrated" with scenes from the Fritz Lang film classic as will as behind the scenes photos photos. Theis edition also includes poster art work, film advertisements, and more including pieces from Forrest J Ackerman's extensive collection of "Metropolis" related artifacts.

Metropolis: 75th Anniversary Edition

Humor & Entertainment

Movies

James A. Rock & Company, Publishers

Die Unheilige Dreifaltigkeit (German Edition)

Religion & Spirituality

Nabu Press

Spies

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Thrillers & Suspense

Wildside Press

Spies (1929) is from the pen of Thea von Harbou, author of "Metropolis." Translated from the German by Helen J. Stiegler.

Contemporary

An amazing vision of the 21st Century, "Metropolis" is an unforgettable science fiction classic originally penned in 1922, while Thea Von Harbou was married to German film director Fritz Lang. She collaborated with Lang on the screenplay for the film version.

Literary

In the literature of Science Fiction, there is no more an underappreciated and ignored piece of writing than Thea Von Harbou’s magnificent Metropolis. The book, a novelization of the screenplay the author wrote for her husband Fritz Lang’s film masterpiece of the same name, was a clever marketing move since the sales of one would drive the sales of the other. Yet the two existed as independent works of art. That proved true only too briefly.
 Something happened soon after the film premiered. The film studio made drastic and clumsy cuts that made the plot impossible to follow. Censors, exhibitors, and distributors further slashed the film to under 90 minutes from its original length of 153 minutes. Consequently, the film’s reputation for unprecedented spectacle and imagination was forged by its transcendent and timeless visual beauty. And Van Harbou’s novel was largely dismissed as an informational bridge between the film’s original storyline and the multiple butchered versions.
Unfortunately, that has been the way the book has been shelved for most of its publishing history. But the book has a life and a shelf of its own. If the film had never come to be made, this book would still offer a fascinating and emotionally powerful reading experience. We see the stark thematic contrasts between light and dark, God and Satan, the saintly Maria and the demonic Rotwang, the conflicts between starry dreams and manual labor, between steamy pump rooms and airplanes ferrying through bright high rise avenues. We also see romantic love and its mechanical counterfeits, a fictional aspect of the novel that has become eerily true in the age of technosexual robots.
The novel has always stood on its own as a work of art, a work of romantic notions and hard experience, exploring the limits of thinking or clubbing our way out of life’s most horrific challenges. The novel offers a possible resolution: The mediator between brain and muscle must be the Heart. Words that ring eternally true.

Metropolis: New Revised Edition

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

This is Metropolis, the novel that the film's screenwriter -- Thea von Harbou, who was director Fritz Lang's wife, and a collaborator in the creation of the film -- this is the novel that Harbou wrote from her own notes. It contains bits of the story that got lost on the cutting-room floor; in a very real way it is the only way to understand the film.

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