Problematic Characters

Some people are “not equal to any situation in life,” Goethe’s epigraph warns, “and no situation satisfies.” Oswald Stein begins his story already caught in that terrible contradiction.

Published in 1861, Friedrich Spielhagen’s novel unfolds in Germany amid the political unrest surrounding the Revolutions of 1848, when old authorities and new hopes collide. Oswald longs for freedom and democracy, but his restless nature leaves him dissatisfied even as he resists reactionary forces and dead ideas. Every path seems to demand a compromise; every compromise threatens the convictions that make him act. Can a man who finds no peace in any situation help change the world around him?

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Who are we? We're Cairn Press. Our background is in design, publishing, typography, and technology. These skills fuel our mission to create the highest quality Public Domain eBooks available online, at an affordable price. We give them the treatment they deserve; our proprietary process restores books for a better overall user experience in design, readability, and e-reader compatibility.