Poetry. Fiction. Translated from the German by Rosmarie Waldrop. This volume contains almost all of Elfriede Czurda's first book and all of her second, Fast 1 Leben. Czurda comes out of the experimental Wiener Gruppe. She is especially fond of letting repetition and permutation shift words through their whole gamut of meanings—and sometimes beyond. However, she is also not averse to thumbing her nose at any rigidities, even those of the experimental imperative. In ALMOST 1 LIFE (novella? politico-cultural satire?), the ruling avant-garde has licenced "monomania" as official language and punishes misuse by expelling the offender—into reality. Which is where Czurda positions herself. She combines exploring language with exploring the social power structures embedded in it—all with lots of fun and humor.