Introduction

This book begins the large task of sorting out the vast number of German literary works which the war has piled up before us. The author has culled over four hundred novels and critical works and by indicating the numbers and content of the more significant novels, and some of their stylistic characteristics, he has shortened the task of future research.

If this investigation provides a fair indication, it appears that the widely held conviction that German publishers brought out nothing but trash during the war years is mistaken. By now, students of literature should be in a sufficiently intelligent and tolerant mood to accept some detailed evidence and to begin to scrutinize it objectively. The present study is intended as a step in that direction.