This book comprises studies of six leading West German novelists, Gerd Gaiser, Wolfgang Koeppen, Heinrich Boll, Gunter Grass, Martin Walser and Uwe Johnson. The analysis of their work involves preoccupation with the social reality underlying their themes and attitudes, with the tension between the writer and society, with the writer as intellectual, and with the problem of commitment. Form and language are closely examined, often in connection with the predominant problem of identity and role-playing. These studies involve cross-references to other writers in and outside Germany, and serve also as the basis for the discussion of such matters as the writer's position in the pluralistic society and his relation to the mass-media, ideology and authority.