writers discussed in this collection include italo svevo, robert walser, robert musil, walter benjamin, bruno schulz, joseph roth, sándor márai, paul celan, günter grass, w. g. sebald, hugo claus, graham greene, samuel beckett, walt whitman, william faulkner, saul bellow, arthur miller, philip roth, nadine gordimer, gabriel garcía márquez, and v. s. naipaul.