Bottom's Dream

". . . In this world, as he writes, everything proves to be a "PHALIBILD . . . NOTHING BUT A PENIDIN." These elusive etyms are perhaps the true heroes of Schmidt's masterpiece, Bottom's Dream (1970). That book is in some sense Schmidt's response to Finnegans Wake; it is a sprawling novel about a brief period, from 4 A.M. to early the next morning, outwardly centered on a discussion of that American father of European modernism, Edgar Allan Poe. Written in three columns and published only as a facsimile of an idiosyncratic typography designed by the author, the "Dream" represents the ultimate but untranslatable challenge to any translator. Mr. Woods has already shown his ability to translate late Schmidt with his version of Evening Edged in Gold (1975). Let us hope that he will have an opportunity to attempt the impossible and give us an English Bottom's Dream too. Then Arno Schmidt will assume his rightful place in modern literature." -Jeremy Alder, New York Times