Ingeborg Bachmann's fame is great. When her novel Malina was published in 1971, critics described it as a "radically anachronistic, fairy-tale-like, willful, elitist, and even amusingly and elegantly reserved book," a "mysterious love story," "about the infinite possibilities of the soul," and "a testament to the homelessness of feeling, even in love." Malina is perhaps the most unusual love triangle: two of the participants are actually one person, "are one," and yet each person is "double." The book is about nothing but love; it reveals the loneliness of the one who loves.