SOURCE: "Ironic Reversal in the Short Stories of Siegfried Lenz," in Neophilologus, Vol. LVIII, No. 4, October, 1974, pp. 406-10.

In this essay, Murdoch analyzes Lenz's use of irony in the stories "Der Amüsierdoktor" and "Mein verdrossenes Gesicht. "

Studies of the prose fiction of Siegfried Lenz have offered in the main an overall view of the writer's work, concentrating primarily upon recurrent thematic motifs, with some comment on language and style. Such studies have praised Lenz in general terms for the originality of his wit, and for the restrained nature of his social satire: Lenz's social criticism—and it is visible most clearly, perhaps, in the short stories—takes the form not of "angriffslustige Satire", but rather of "leise Komik". The precise nature—and originality—of Lenz's achievement in the field of the satirical short story must be evaluated, however, through detailed analysis of narrative technique based upon concrete...