Franz Nabl wrote some of his major works at a time when Arthur Schnitzler, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and Hermann Bahr dominated the Austrian literary scene. In contrast with the impressionism of these contemporaries, he is rooted in the tradition of realism and naturalism. Like Ferdinand von Saar, Nabl sympathized with ways of life that were fast disappearing, and like Adalbert Stifter's characters, his heroes attempt to create an "intact" sphere in order to control the threatening chaotic forces without and within the self. These "idylls," however, show severe cracks and often turn into nightmares. There is an ambiguity in Nabl's work which accounts for part of its fascination: the conflicting forces that constitute the world of his characters--traditional values versus new ways of life, strong father versus weak son, closed family versus the quest of the individual for self-fulfillment--are shown in both their attractive and destructive aspects. The...