In this 1954 study of poetic realism and the Novelle form, Silz examines nine Novellen by Brentano, Arnim, Droste-Hulshoff, Stifter, Grillsparzer, Keller, Meyer, Storm and Hauptmann. Through his textual interpretation of these works Silz draws the threads of the transition from Romanticism to Naturalism and the development of the Novelle form.