Our narrator is held in complete darkness and isolation. His endless thoughts are turned into the book we are reading-Schattenfroh-directed by none other than the narrator's mysterious jailer by the same name. Undulating through explorations of Renaissance art, the German reformation, time-defying esoterica, the printing process in the sixteenth century, Kabbalistic mysticism, and beyond, Schattenfroh is a remarkable book that, in turn, asks the remarkable of its readers. Interruptions, breaks, and annotations both buoy and deceive, and endless historical references, literary allusions, and wordplay construct a baroque, encyclopedic quest. Schattenfroh's publication in English marks a seminal moment in the history of the literary form