Doderer, Heimito von. The Demons (New York: Knopf, 1961) 2 v., 1334 p. Translated from the German by Richard and Clara Winston.

A young factory worker in Vienna named Leonhard Kakabsa decides to learn Latin. He buys a Latin grammar and drills himself diligently. This activity has the unexpected benefit of developing a “greater skill in the manipulation and separation of ideas” (p. 577). One day he realizes he can read Latin and that he thinks as an educated man.

Leonhard begins to frequent the university library where he develops a friendship with a young scholar named René Stangeler. Later, Stangeler is invited to Castle Neudegg by it’s owner, Prince Jan Herzka. Stangeler so impresses Herzka with his translation of a medieval manuscript that he offers him the position of librarian at Neudegg.

Kakabsa meets Prince Alfons Croix who is immediately impressed by the former’s intelligence. Croix tells Kakabsa, “I have long been searching for a librarian. I don’t want a middle-class academician reeking of general education. I want someone with native wit—he can go ahead and study and attain his doctorate—of course at my expense and with my assistance.” (p. 1101). And so Leonhard Kakabsa moves into a suite of rooms at the Palais Croix to take up his duties as librarian.