Abish, Walter (1931– )
US writer of Austrian-Jewish origin. His novels, short stories, and poetry experiment
with language and sound. He uses an unexpressive, formalist style to investigate
modern history and morality in such novels as Alphabetical Africa (1974), in which
each chapter contains words all starting with the same letter, and How German Is It?
(1980), an ironic guidebook that reveals the darkness and guilt behind the
materialism of post-war Germany