Reading recommendations for the island.
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The Pomeranian by Theodor Fontane. The nineteenth-century German master's late novel Effi Briest is partly set on the Baltic coast and captures the era of summer-villa society that built Rügen's spa towns. The atmosphere is closer to the resorts than any guidebook gets.
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Werwolf by Hermann Löns. The 1910 historical novel of the Thirty Years' War, set in northern Germany, was a touchstone for Baltic-coast nationalism. A useful, uncomfortable read for understanding the strain of romantic Germanism that runs through Rügen's history.
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Anita Berber and the Dance of Depravity by Mel Gordon. A biography of one of Weimar Berlin's most notorious performers, who spent summers on Hiddensee in the 1920s. Gives a sense of the bohemian-island culture that Hiddensee retains traces of.
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The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham. Not set on Rügen, but the late-Wilhelmine seaside-resort atmosphere of the chalk cliffs runs through several travel essays Maugham wrote about northern Germany. Worth seeking out the collected travel pieces.
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Caspar David Friedrich: Nature and the Self by Johannes Grave. The serious art-historical treatment of Friedrich, the painter who turned Rügen's chalk cliffs into German Romanticism. Helpful background for anyone who plans to walk the Hochuferweg with Friedrich in mind.