Alfred Doeblin (1878–1957) is one of the greatest German prose writers of the 20th century. “Hamlet, or the Long Night Comes to an End” is the writer’s last novel. The main character Edward lost his leg at the very end of the Second World War and suffered a terrible shock. Now he lies on the sofa in the library of his father, successful fiction writer Gordon Ellison, and everyone around him, in order to distract him from bad thoughts, tells him something. But Edward turns into Hamlet, who questions his surroundings. He does not intend to judge anyone, he only seeks to clarify an important and urgent question: he wants to know what made him and all the people around him sick and spoiled. He understands: there is some terrible situation - he must understand it for himself. The truth, and only the truth, can restore his health. Numerous stories told to him for distraction and entertainment develop into indirect, and then into more and more direct messages, finally, in confession, even an admission of guilt...