A masterpiece that had been lost, but not forgotten, has been recovered 85 years after its first publication. In 1928, prestigious publisher Kurt Wolff published an excellent antiwar novel about World War I. A parody that caused large controversy, this work has an irresistible picaresque flavor. The author wrote under the pen name Schlump but never revealed the meaning behind his pseudonym. A few years later, Nazis burned the book, but Grimm managed to hide one copy inside a wall. Eight decades later, the novel, considered to be one of the best books written about World War I, has gone back into print without having lost any of its validity.

Hans Herbert Grimm fought in World War I and later worked as a professor, teaching German, Spanish, and French. His only novel was lost for more than 80 years before it was found and translated. Belén Santana is a professor of translation at the University of Salamanca. She has translated works by Julia Franck, Sebastian Haffner, Thomas Hürlimann, and Ingo Schulze.