This Beautiful Place

Fiction. Stories by Tankred Dorst with Ursula Ehler. Translated from the German by Anne Posten. Despite its great importance and influence on German theater and letters, Dorst's work is still relatively unknown in America. This is particularly ironic...given the strong influence of American culture, not to mention the country itself, on both his writing and personal history. At the age of 17, Dorst was conscripted into the German army but was soon captured...and sent to an internment camp up the Hudson River. There, he became fascinated by American culture, which has continued to influence his work, particularly the episodic film style of directors like Robert Altman, so American readers have a chance to experience American culture through German eyes. His work has also been linked to such writers a Ionesco, Beckett and Giraudoux. THIS BEAUTIFUL PLACE is Dorst's only novella and the only work of his currently available in English.--Anne Posten