The book expresses its author's commitment to the use of glass in modern architecture, which had a significant impact on the concepts of German Expressionism.
[3] The novel is set in the middle of the twentieth century, and opens in Chicago, where the protagonist Edgar Krug has designed an enormous colored-glass exhibition hall.
Krug, fiercely dedicated to his esthetic concepts, is unhappy that the bright colors of women's fashions clash with his architectural scheme.
When he meets Clara Weber, the organist, he is struck by her gray dress with white lace trim; he finds it the perfect complement to the color effect of his hall.
Once married, the couple leave for the Fiji Islands in Krug's private dirigible (it has a glass-walled cupola, and air conditioning).
Scheerbart provides portrayals of a number of strong female characters through the book, supporting its subtitle, "a Ladies' novel."
Their journey is not a parade of triumphs, however; in most places, Krug's ideas are resisted, criticized, and rejected to greater or lesser degrees.
[4] It is an open question how much influence the German Expressionists' work had on the glass skyscrapers of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and other Modernist architects later in the century.
In one view, though, the modernist glass skyscrapers of the mid-twentieth century "came closer to realizing Scheerbart's vision than the utopian projects of Taut and other Expressionist architects.