Albert Drach is one of the major chroniclers of the history of Austrian society from the last days of the Hapsburg monarchy to the present. He is a highly political writer in that he is concerned with the political consequences of social behavior: in his novels and plays he depicts the mentality that permitted the rise and the practices of National Socialism--a mentality that still exists. Drach can be considered an avant-garde writer, since he spearheaded many of the literary movements that became prevalent after World War II; yet he was "discovered" only in the 1960's. After an initial success with his novel Das große Protokoll gegen Zwetschkenbaum (The Large Brief against Zwetschkenbaum, 1964) his reputation has grown only slowly, probably because his criticism is unmitigating, his challenges to the social and political complacency he describes are uncomfortable, his language is consistently and highly ironic, and his...