African Games. Ernst Junger

Outside, the year is 1913. Sixteen-year-old Herbert Berger is not doing well in school and is increasingly bored at school. Much more interesting to him are books about adventures and travels, which he secretly reads under his desk. He is particularly fascinated by the mysterious African continent. And since at a young age “everything mysterious seems accessible to the heart only spatially,” Herbert dares to act – he runs away from home to join the French Foreign Legion. The escape itself, and later the journey to Africa, are full of numerous surprises, new acquaintances and experiences, as well as many disappointments.

In this largely autobiographical novel, typically Jungerian in its style, the reader is presented with vivid characters from the social underbelly, unique landscapes of Alsace, southern France and Algeria, poetic dreamscapes, daydreams and childhood memories combined with the author's insightful thoughts on the formation of a young person in modern society.

Young Berger's African games put an end to his childhood and open the way to the cruel world of adults, the culmination of which will be the coming war.