Koeppen’s postwar novels fused Joyce and Faulkner techniques with Nazi trauma.

Evidence

Wolfgang Koeppen’s novels Tauben im Gras (1951), Das Treibhaus (1953) and Der Tod in Rom (1954) were indebted to Faulkner, Joyce and Dos Passos in terms of technique, form and language, and at the same time represented reactions both to the trauma of Nazism and to post-war reconstruction in the Federal Republic and the mentality that went with itwith its characteristic suppression of unpleasant memories. Koeppen’s books, as he stated himself, were filled with fear and little hope'. But they were given an immediately political interpretation. You can only handle the book with fire tongs,’ was Welt am Sonntag’s comment on Treibhaus. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2217

Categorization

• CANDY: ‘You can only handle the book with fire tongs’ is a memorable press reaction worth quoting informally.
• XREF: connects to: American occupation authorities suppressed critical German publications and even Faulkner novels — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1722