In 1925, the then-unknown William Faulkner published some sketches and short stories in regional magazines. Ordinary people are the characters in these genre pieces set in New Orleans: sailors, smugglers, beggars and prostitutes, con artists and priests. In 1960, these New Orleans sketches by the now world-famous Nobel laureate were offered for translation to Arno Schmidt. He took it on, as he said, only "for advertising reasons," because he did not like Faulkner. Nevertheless, his German version of the sketches, published in 1962, is brilliant—Schmidt was indeed at home in Faulkner's everyday language. Schmidt's engagement with the American writer continued in the story 'Piporakemes!'. In this tale, an English Faulkner specialist visits a certain Schmidt to hold him accountable for his miserable translation.