Hermann Kasack was a poet and, for a brief period late in his life, a novelist. Unwilling or unable to accept the challenges of an era dominated by politics, Kasack responded to the irrationalities of the world as did other writers with strong conservative and metaphysical inclinations: by withdrawing into refined melancholy and asocial meditation. His writing was intended to be the sublime antithesis to the disorders of contemporary society; as the symbolic evocation of a cosmic order it was meant to provide spiritual consolation. For a few years during the early 1950s his first novel was considered a work of international stature that rivaled the philosophical fiction of French existentialism. It was read widely and praised as a compelling surrealistic portrayal of life under a modern dictatorship. But its popularity gave way to attitudes ranging from respectful neglect to resolute criticism when a new generation of writers...