The Transformation of Failure

This study of Wolfgang Koeppen's two pre-war and three post-war novels demonstrates a continuity both in Koeppen's thematic concerns and in the underlying development of his characters throughout the five novels. Often the novels have been treated as works of pessi- mistic social and political criticism: by contrast, this detailed analysis of the unique creative inner lives and the corresponding spiritual development of the characters - with the exception of Johannes von Süde in Die Mauer schwankt - demonstrates the narrator's positive assessment of the characters and the increa- singly optimistic tendency of the novels.