Black sails

the long version

"A novel that resembles a Kafkaesque puppet theater: a mad director regards the world as a stage that he alone controls. He forces his associates into roles determined by him - his directorial concept proves as absurd as it is consistent. Skwara, with his mastery of language, has composed not only a fascinating, intimate literary work but also a discourse on many evils of every era, including our own. Thus the novel, which originally was published in German in 1979, remains valid over the years and beyond its narrower theme."--Jacket.