Written during the vibrant crisis years of the Weimar Republic Alfred Dblins Berlin Alexanderplatz is a fascinating examination of the gradual disintegration of Germany in the aftermath of the Great War and in the shadow of a nascent National Socialism. This study engages the seminal image of the prostitute the commodified woman as a central and dominant motif in Dblins work. Through this intersection of sex gender and economics the author scrutinizes the larger perspective of German culture through the lens of its suppressed underclasses and considers how the politics of language both construct and constrain womans identity in this society. The true history of the Weimar Republic therefore is read through Dblins portraits of prostitutes and petty criminals homosexuality and Lustmord.