Heinrich Schirmbeck (b. 1915), Germany's most prolific post-war writer on the subject of science and literature, sensed the diminishing relevance of literature in the scientific era. He developed a new poetics for the scientific age and anticipated the major ideas of the Two Cultures debate of C. P. Snow and F. R. Leavis. In his fiction, Schirmbeck explored both the promise and the dangers of science. In this, he predated more well-known German authors...