The basic theme of [the novel Stadtgespräch (The Survivor) and the story 'Das Feuerschiff' ('The Lightship')] is the choice of evils imposed when hostages are taken for any purpose. That they come to different conclusions—insofar as they come to conclusions at all—is probably inevitable. The increase in kidnapping as a political weapon over the past few years has, moreover, sharpened the sensitivity of the reader to the problems inherent in this kind of theme, but an increased awareness of the possibilities of such a situation has not made the possibility of a general solution any more likely. Lenz does, of course, treat the theme in his drama Zeit der Schuldlosen, and the 'experimental' situation set up there is echoed in these works, too. There is some justification for treating the stories not in the order of composition but in that of the events told in...