Arno Schmidt: A Critical Study of his Prose

This book, originally published in 1982, was the first monograph in English to offer a critical study of an important twentieth-century German novelist, Arno Schmidt. Schmidt, who died in 1979, was a controversial figure on the German literary scene. His early work, which began appearing immediately after the Second World War, attracted attention by virtue of its stylistic eccentricity and aggressive stand against all forms of organized authority. As an experimenter with language, much influenced by Joyce and Freud, Schmidt aroused large-scale public interest with the publication of a gigantic prose work, Zettel's Traum, in 1970. He developed a cult following which survived his death. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Schmidt, and the broader development of post-war German literature in general.