The massive file on Zwetschkenbaum
Subtitle: a novel
By: Albert Drach ; translated by Harvey I. Dunkle..
Contributors: Dunkle, Harvey I.
Series: Studies in Austrian literature, culture, and thought
Publisher: Ariadne Press; Brand: Ariadne Pr; Ariadne Pr
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Riverside, CA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 285
Work titles: Grosse Protokoll gegen Zwetschkenbaum.
Description: The Massive File on Zwetschkenbaum is a picaresque (and picturesque) novel based on the misfortunes of a young Talmud scholar, whose story is allegedly recorded by the author as a young attorney between the two world wars.The protagonist is an anti-hero who for the most trifling of offenses - after a nap under a plum tree he unthinkingly eats some of the fruit - becomes ensnared in the legal machinery which grinds on relentlessly, although all authorities feel the charges should be dropped.

Hence the massive file is created. Drach pillories mindless bureaucracy of the legal system, the bumbling medical profession, and the general corruption of the times along with the prevalent anti-Semitism.