Due in part to the controversy which seems to spring forth in his wake and in part to the chaotic and at times incomprehensible nature of his literary production, Herbert Achternbusch is considered by many to be Bavaria's, and perhaps even Germany's, most infamous and interesting enfant terrible. He is certainly one of Germany's most prolific writers, in terms both of sheer volume and of versatility. His oeuvre includes more than forty works encompassing a wide variety of genres: poetry, novels, short stories, commentaries, dramas, radio plays, film scripts, and even paintings and sculptures. Yet there is a unity among these individual pieces. In the first place, they contain repeated autobiographical references; second, many of Achternbusch's dramas and film scripts are based on his prose works; finally, and perhaps most important, Achternbusch writes from a consistent stance of rebellion or resistance. He defines art not as "Kö...