"One of the most original, fascinating, and curious figures in twentieth-century Polish literature, Wat left behind an oeuvre which is salient, artistically accomplished, and influential . . . with its shifting narrative perspectives, wild imagination combining the trivial and the fantastic, and highly 'subjective' lyrical style, [Lucifer Unemployed] is a unique and important contribution to the twentieth-century evolution of the short story and fiction and general." —Stanisław Baranczak
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"Wat . . . was a central figure in Polish modernism and this—his 1927 book of speculative stories—comes as a revelation. . . . The style is quick, syncopated, and piquant (excellently rendered by Vallee), with Wat capable of richer tones as well. . . . Wat's stories [indicate] the special nature of the Mitteleuropisch Expressionism that flourished—however briefly—in a literature we still know so little about." —Kirkus Reviews
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