Berättelser från de inställda upprorens tid från 1974 berättar historien om fru Meckel och hennes bruna dagbok från 1938, om herr Bachmann, han som försökte skjuta Rudi Dutschke, ideologisk talesman för det tyska socialistiska studentförbundet. Och om andra personer som nästan tycks vara syskon till fru Meckel: "vänliga, trofasta själar, lojala mot sin förtryckare samtidigt som de vagt och oklart kände sig bedragna. De levde i de inställda upprorens tid och såg ingen utväg."
Per Olov Enquist, better known as P. O. Enquist was one of Sweden's internationally best known authors. He has worked as a journalist, playwright, and novelist. In the nineties, he gained international recognition with his novel The Visit of The Royal Physician.
After a degree in History of literature at Uppsala University he worked as a newspaper columnist and TV debate moderator from 1965 to 1976. Because of his work he soon became an influential figure on the Swedish literary scene. From 1970 to 1971 Enquist lived in Berlin on a grant from the German Academic Exchange Service and in 1973 he was a visiting professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has been working as an independent writer since 1977.
Enquist's works are characterized by a chronic pessimistic view of the world. They always describe the restrictions imposed by the pietistical way of living, especially in March of the Musicians (1978) and Lewi's Journey (2001). He gained international recognition with his novel The Visit of The Royal Physician (1999) where he tells the story of Struensee, the personal physician of the Danish King Christian VII. Many of Enquist's works have been translated into English by Tiina Nunnally.
Klart som fan att POE också skulle vara novellernas mästare. Några av svenska språkets finaste formuleringar finns i POEs författarskap och inte särskilt få av dessa i denna tematiskt tighta, men nååågot ojämna, novellsamling. "Efter de klassiska höjdpunkterna" – den längsta novellen här – är bland det bästa och mest gripande POE skrivit.