The studies offer a comprehensive literary interpretation of the novels Voyage au bout de la nuit by Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Die Schlafwandler by Hermann Broch. Against the background of related subject matter – the crisis in Europe after the First World War – and with special reference to the authors’ prophetic approach, the novels are examined in terms of the way they shape the relations between esthetic, ethical and cognitive elements. The main focus of the interpretation is on the different ways in which the two novels engage with the connection between art and social praxis in times of artistic autonomy.