Strange Traffic: Stories

All the characters in these 11 stories from an American writer living in Berlin find it impossible to make a clean break with the past. Those with romantic notions about freedom are invariably disappointed, although the reader is not, since Dische combines stylish prose with dark wit. ``Portrait of a Defection'' is the author's quintessential indictment of idealism: this story of an East German mathematician's methodical escape to the West opens with the words: ``Once upon a time...'' Enthusing to the Western press, the man announces, ``It's like a fairy tale come true!''--but his idyll proves short-lived when his elderly mother, with whom he has shared a dreary apartment for years, announces that she is defecting, too. Like many others in this collection, the man can change his setting but can't alter his essential condition. Similarly, in ``The Smuggled Wedding Ring,'' a couple who have fled Russia find themselves longing for the heavy gold ring--and all its symbolic baggage--that they left behind. Negative energy also drives the collection's opener, ``Prior Conviction,'' the tale of a cynic who preaches that ``rejection is much more important than affection.'' Even the elderly players in these stories prove to have learned little from their journies through life. Dische draws her international cast and their ironic tales of disillusion with distinctive strokes and sharp clarity, producing sharply individualistic, memorable portraits. Rights: Rowahlt Verlag; author tour. (Sept.)