B/Moondocks

A dual narrative of pastoral innocence and postapocalyptic survival, Arno Schmidt’s monumental and fiercely inventive novel returns as a definitive edition.

The novel weaves together two unforgettable worlds: a quiet weekend in the German countryside in the 1950s, and a stark colony on the moon, where the last survivors of a nuclear war endure a tense, lingering Cold War. Through this inventive double story, Arno Schmidt crafts a biting satire of political divisions, a moving reflection on what we preserve when civilization crumbles, and an intimate portrait of a couple seeking a way forward.

A dazzling and demanding masterwork of linguistic play and formal innovation, B/Moondocks stands as the brilliant culmination of Schmidt’s early period, a clear gateway to his late masterworks, and a powerful testament to his status as the essential, experimental titan of post-war German literature. B/Moondocks is an audacious work of science fiction, with its stark vision of ideological conflict and cultural survival, feels unnervingly prescient in our own politically fractured age.