Peter Schlemiel: The Man Who Sold His Shadow

An early 19th-century German classic by an author who felt constantly displaced by his Franco-German heritage at a time when those nations were at war, this slender novel carries both echoes of Faust and distinct premonitions of Kafka. It has not been available here for many years, and this fluent translation is a most welcome addition to Romantic literature. Schlemiel--the name is a very conscious use of the Yiddish word meaning ``God's fool''--is a poor man, seeking to rise in society, who meets a magical figure at a rich man's manor. The magician offers to buy his shadow in exchange for a purse that offers untold riches. Schlemiel naturally accepts and indeed becomes a figure of great wealth, only to find that the lack of his shadow undermines any possibility of living normally, or of finding love. In the end, he rejects the magician's offer to return his shadow in exchange for his soul, acquires a pair of seven-league boots and, by leaping around the world observing and recording, attempts to make amends for his foolishness by becoming a dedicated naturalist. The work is a delicate blend of comedy and tragedy, with symbolism carefully tempered by exact observation. It is easy to see why the book was an enormous contemporary success and continues to be much admired in Europe. (May)