A Shadow of Myself

by Peter Flamm, Simon Pare (Translator), Rachel Seiffert (Introduction)

A vivid, hallucinatory rediscovered classic about split identity in the wake of First World War trauma
Hans, an esteemed surgeon, has just returned from the hellish battlefields of the First World War. But everything in his home feels alien, even his wife Grete. As he tries to regain a sense of normality, he is haunted by nightmarish visions and a profound sense of dissociation. Has the war turned him into someone else? Or has another man wormed his way into Hans's life?
Told in a feverish monologue, A Shadow of Myself is a vivid, hallucinatory immersion in an unsettled mind. First published in 1926 and rediscovered in Germany only last year, this lightning-bolt of a war classic is now appearing in English for the first time.

Genres: Historical Fiction

160 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 23, 2025

About the author

Peter Flamm, bürgerlich Erich Mosse, 1891 in Berlin geboren, begann schon während seines Medizinstudiums, in den Zeitungen seines Onkels Rudolf Mosse Feuilletons und kleinere Erzählungen zu veröffentlichen. 1926 sorgte sein psychologischer Debütroman »Ich?« bei S. Fischer für Furore. In den folgenden Jahren verfasste er neben seiner medizinischen Praxis drei weitere Romane, bis er als Jude 1933 mit seiner Frau Marianne aus Deutschland nach Paris und 1934 nach New York emigrieren musste. Dort ließ er sich als Psychiater nieder; sein berühmtester Patient war der Literaturnobelpreisträger William Faulkner, Berühmtheiten wie Albert Einstein und Charlie Chaplin gingen in seinem Haus ein und aus. 1963 starb er in New York.

Reviews

[Matthew Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Originally published in 1926, this Heimkehrroman put me in the mind of Thomas Bernhard and Peter Handke. It plays with the idea of doppelgangers, but we are never quite sure whether the 'two' personalities in the story are real or not. Is the narrator shellshocked? Mad? Or is he truly harbouring two men, himself, and the identity of the man whose passport he takes? People seem to accept him as the 'second' person, even his wife; in fact, the only person who seems wary of him is the dog, Nero, which seems to be the clue to the novel. The dog's sixth sense.

It is written in long and feverish run-on sentences within equally long paragraphs. The narrator's attention hops from one thing to the next. Like Bernhard, it pays off to read it in concentrated bursts, to lower yourself into its confused and crazed visions.

Thanks to Pushkin Press for sending me an advance copy.

[Kiera · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Really vivid and immersive, I find WWI literature to be some of the best books I’ve read and this is no exception.

[Donna Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel, originally published in 1926 and recently rediscovered with the advent of the Ukraine and Russia War, is a psychological classic that explores themes of trauma and a fragmented sense of identity following the First World War.

The book is a vivid, hallucinatory story told in a feverish monologue, focusing on the themes of war trauma and dissociation. The protagonist of the story Hans, an esteemed surgeon, returns home from the hellish battlefields of the First World War. He finds that his home and even his wife, Grete, feel completely alien to him. He is haunted by nightmarish visions and a profound sense of disconnection from his former life.

Hans struggles with his identity, questioning whether the war has transformed him into a different person or if an imposter has somehow taken his place. The narrative immerses the reader in his unsettled and traumatized mind as he attempts, and largely fails, to regain a sense of normalcy.

The novel was published only eight years after the end of WWI, directly addressing the raw, unhealed psychological wounds of returning veterans. It explores themes of "shell shock" and dissociation (which would later be called PTSD) at a time when such conditions were often dismissed as "hysterical" in Germany and the rest of the world.

NOTE: I was unable to obtain a copy of this book in the US. I resorted to the UK to order and ship a copy to the US.

[Anna Tour · Rating 5 out of 5]

Could be read in one breath. Amazing rythme and character building. Insights on the human subconscious, strong images and a plot twist.