It appeared in English in 1979, translated by Sophie Wilkins and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

[1] Northwestern University Press released a new edition in 1995 as part of its Hydra Books series.

[2] Lore Dickstein of the Saturday Review described the book as "a brilliant, hard-edged analysis of the act of writing".

Dickstein wrote, "The spare abstract quality of Strauss's language is the reflection of his subject: the isolation of the self/artist in a world where no one really listens.

Naipaul, this book by Botho Strauss is like a sculpture by Giacometti—clean, pared-down, and without a shred of unnecessary flesh.