Von Horváth: Plays One : Sladek; A Sexual Congress

Includes the plays Sladek and A Sexual Congress plus an introduction by Penny Black

Set in the inter-war period of raging inflation in Germany, these two plays portray the losers in what von Horváth called ‘the gigantic battle between the individual and society’. In Sladek, Black’s version being the first to be published in English, we see how social conditions lead people to desperate action and violence, opening the road for dictators and fascists.

Writtenjust as the Nazis came to power, A Sexual Congress predicts with frightening accuracy the cycle of violence that was to spread throughout Europe.