Martin Walser

Gottlieb Zurn is a West German real estate agent in the mold of Willy Loman. Surrounded by an oppressive group of family and colleagues, he dreams of the success represented by the Swan Villa, an elegant but empty mansion.

A novel centering around a letter from Franz Horn to Dr. Liszt, a colleague whose rise had been reason for Horn{u2019}s attempted suicide. Liszt, experiencing his own impending demotion, tried to enlist the friendship of Horn, but experiences an explosion of hostility as Horn relates the cruel rise of Liszt and the six laws of social physics that forever separate the successful from those who are not successful. The book is an indictment of the commercialism and anti-individualism of German society in the 1960s and 1970s.

When wicked Queen Valda of the Outlands threatens both the Fairy Realm and the human world, Jessie seeks the help of the unicorns.