An expressionist novel of 1920s Berlin demi-monde as seen through the eyes of Franz Biberkopf. The book was performed as a radioplay in the 1970s and Fassbinder made it into a movie. Scattered with scraps from leaflets, tabloid reports, stories, popular lyrics, and ads, the book takes the form of a montage. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929) is essayist and novelist Doblin's best-known work.  (GER86, $19.95)