Wolf Wondratschek's first volume of fiction, Früher begann der Tag mit einer Schußwunde (In Earlier Times the Day Began with a Bullet Wound, 1969), introduced a new tone and style into German literature. Critics were quick to discover and celebrate Wondratschek as a genuine new voice. Although he followed his first book with only two more relatively small volumes of fiction in 1970 and 1972, his texts have become part of the German literary canon and have been included in many anthologies and textbooks. His formal experimentation with the radio play met with similar acclaim and earned him one of the most prestigious awards for this genre. Wondratschek's greatest success, however, came with his poetry collections in the 1970s. Although some critics claim that this success is due to packaging and advertising rather than to the quality of the poems, there can be no doubt that Wondratschek...