| Once a Jailbird | |
| Author: | Hans Fallada |
| Title Orig: | Wer einmal aus dem Blechnapf frißt |
| Orig Lang Code: | de |
| Country: | Germany |
| Language: | German |
| Publisher: | Rowohlt Verlag |
| Pub Date: | 1934 |
| English Pub Date: | 1934 |
| Pages: | 509 |
Once a Jailbird (de|Wer einmal aus dem Blechnapf frißt), also published in English as Who Once Eats Out of the Tin Bowl[1] and The World Outside,[2] is a 1934 novel by the German writer Hans Fallada. It is about a man who is released from prison and tries to create an orderly life for himself in Hamburg, but becomes ensnared by destructive habits.[3] [4]
The novel was the basis for the 1962 German three-part television serial . Directed by Fritz Umgelter, the serial transposed the story to post-war Germany and caused political debate due to its subject of a middle-aged anti-hero unable to deal with the recent past.[5]