<p>The Secret of the Empire, based on Heimito von Doderer's own life as a captive of the Russians from 1916 to 1920, portrays the experiences of Austrian war prisoners in Siberia during the Russian Civil War, caught between the inexorable approach of Reds and the often cruel rearguard actions of the Whites and their Czech Legion allies. Threatened by disease, deprived of all that is familiar, and faced by a landscape that is alternately malevolent and breathtakingly beautiful - but always colossal and endless - the young Austrians attempt to deal with their captivity in a variety of ways ranging from withdrawal into the intellectual or artistic spheres to active participation in the political movements to simply finding someone to fall in love with, until they too are finally engulfed by the conflagration which has been glowing on the horizon all the while. - This early novel reveals clearly the beginnings of Doderer's lifelong preoccupation with the problems of perception of reality and character development or 'humanization.' Beyond that, however, it is a document of personal courage and enduring friendship set against the backdrop of a Russia unknown to most of us.</p>

The Secret of the Empire: A Novel of the Russian Civil War (Studies in Austrian Literature, Culture and Thought : Translation Series)

Von Doderer, Heimito

Barrett, John S

Literature & Fiction

Ariadne Pr

<p>Widowed and newly retired, the turn-of-the-century Austrian civil servant Julius Zihal has left the safe haven of the Tax Office and its orderly, codified administrative practices and now faces a drab and uncertain future alone. This gloomy scene suddenly becomes brighter when he discovers that the lighted windows of the adjacent apartment buildings offer a nightly display of variously-endowed ladies undressing as they prepare for bed. The expected Jekyll and Hyde contrast between Julius' Biedermeier daytime conduct and his nocturnal activities never quite materializes as the bureaucrat within him dominates the voyeur and he attempts to open a file on Eros, as it were, by carefully noting down and categorzing all the pertinent details of his observations, rather than simply surrendering to their pleasures.</p>

The Lighted Windows, Or, the Humanization of the Bureaucrat Julius Zihal (STUDIES IN AUSTRIAN LITERATURE, CULTURE, AND THOUGHT TRANSLATION SERIES)

Doderer, Heimito Von

United States

Beyond the Hedge of Thorns

Biographies & Memoirs

Professionals & Academics

Austin Macauley

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