Walter Abish has been an important presence in contemporary fiction since the publication of his first novel, the playfully experimental Alphabetical Africa (1974). The appearance of two volumes of short stories, Minds Meet (1975) and In the Future Perfect (1977), confirmed his reputation as a master of nonconventional form, as did the publication of 99: The New Meaning (1990). However, his second novel, How German Is It (1980), winner of the first P.E.N./Faulkner Award for Fiction, has to date reached the widest readership and obtained the most critical attention, both in the United States and abroad. How German Is It helped Abish's readers see that his work has never confined itself to the elaboration of self-reflexive games. The judges of the P.E.N./Faulkner Award noted in their citation for How German Is It that the novel's "very contemporary narrative devices transcend technique until they are no more devices than...