The Massive File on Zwetschkenbaum By Albert Drach Translated by Harvey I. Dunkle Afterword by Ernestine Schlant

The Massive File on Zwetschkenbaum is a picaresque (and picturesque) novel based on the misfortunes of a young Talmud scholar, whose story is allegedly recorded by the author as a young attorney between the two World Wars. The protagonist is an antihero who for the most trifling of offenses becomes enmeshed in the legal machinery which grinds on relentlessly although all authorities feel the charges should be dropped. Hence the massive file is created. Drach pillories the mindless bureaucracy of the legal system, the bumbling medical profession, and the general corruption of the times along with the prevalent anti-Semitism.