DUELING. By Kevin McAleer. Princeton University Press; 268 pages; $24.95 and Pounds 19.95 BETWEEN 1871, when the Franco-Prussian war ended, and 1914, when the first world war began, the German army had nothing much to do. German officers kept boredom at bay...

Violins at the ready ... take twenty paces, turn and fire! Judith Monk acted as their Second I know, I know my imagination is running riot again, but meeting the two young violinists that together make Duel can really affect a lady of...

In the following excerpt, Hahn describes “The Duel” as “novelistic” in form and method, explores its theme, and compares the work to the fiction of Tolstoy.

In the following essay, Axelrod sees “the need for salvation and moral reform” as central to “The Duel,” and traces biblical references underlying this theme in the work.

In the following excerpt, Tulloch interprets “The Duel” in light of evolutionary degeneration theory, and views the conflict between an “ambivalence of false choice” and the story's “epic vision of hope and suffering.”