AustLit

Willey compares Lennie Lower with the Czechoslovakian humourist, Jaroslav Hasek, to assist his description of the tormented life that produced two novels and a stream of humorous sketches in the 1930s and 1940s. Willey argues that "Lower's genius rested in his ability to ignore the elaborate political and puritanical superstructure which overlaid and ostensibly gave direction to events, and delve instead into the rich and chaotic human life of the underlying infrastructure of his society".