Christoph Ransmayr has masterfully experimented with other forms of storytelling during the years he worked on his novels: in his prose collection 'The Way to Surabaya', for example, as well as in 'Poet in Residence' at the Salzburg Festival, which encompasses a cycle of music, poetry, film, and painting titled 'On the Way to Babylon'. In 'The Bow of the Giant', Ransmayr transforms companions and friends into figures of his narratives - among them the poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger, the philosopher Karl Markus Michel, the theater director Claus Peymann, and - as a companion in the deep snow of the western Himalayas - also the nomad Reinhold Messner. With virtuosity and sometimes astonishing irony, Ransmayr demonstrates how reflection on literature transforms back into stories.