Arno Schmidt

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.