Das Treibhaus

Treibhaus, Das, a novel by W. Koeppen, published in 1953. It is a harsh satire on the Germany of the ‘economic miracle’ (Wirtschaftswunder) and especially of life in Bonn, which is the hot-house of the title. The central figure, the member of parliament, Keetenheuve, is torn between the obligations of his respectable situation and a nihilism which believes neither in the present order nor in future revolution. He ends by taking his own life, having vainly opposed the government's plans for rearmament.