... the use of imagery are far less developed in them than in the published stories. Nevertheless, they offer a useful introduction to the short story œuvre of Roland Mathias, not least because they ... twists suddenly between the perceptions and thoughts of first one then the other. The quality of the language, the density of the imagery, the extended images, associated more often withpoetry than ... vanquished and, in the newsreel image of the spires of the cathedral, still standingamidst the rubble of bombed Cologne, a symbol of the persistence of religion. Even as he angrily leaves the crowded...