René Schickele's literary reputation probably rests less on the success of any particular work than on his total achievement as a man of letters. He was born in Alsace, the "heavenly landscape," as he called it, between the Black Forest and the Vosges mountains, a region that had been disputed territory and a battleground between France and Germany for many centuries. Since much of his work reflects the complicated and sometimes painful cultural and political situation of Alsace, Schickele is often thought of as an Alsatian writer. Thomas Mann, for instance, referred to Schickele's trilogy, Das Erbe am Rhein (The Heritage on the Rhine, 1925-1931), as the standard work of the Alsatian soul. Far from succumbing to provincialism, however, Schickele treated the plight of his country as an important international matter. "Das Elsaß ist für mich keine provinzielle Angelegenheit," he wrote, "sondern der Pr...