In his poems, short stories, novels, and dramas Ludwig Fels calls attention to an apathetic society which ignores those who are at its periphery. In living pictures he expresses provocatively and precisely what he fears, what worries him, and what enrages him. One is touched, even haunted, by the immediacy and urgency of Fels's message, which has reached an increasingly broad audience through books, radio plays, stage productions, and a television adaptation of one of his novels. Fels entered the literary scene in 1973 with a collection of poems, Anläufe (Attempts), and a radio play, "Kaputt oder ein Hörstück aus Scherben" (Smashed; or, A Radio Play Made from Broken Pieces). His first novel, Die Sünden der Armut (The Sins of Poverty), appeared in 1975. He soon attracted the attention of critics and was awarded several literature prizes: together with Max von der...