The Problem of Aladdin

Ernst Jünger was always interested in the paradoxes of material existence and the problems of human solitude in the industrial society. These themes are reflected in «The Problem of Aladdin» — an allegorical, philosophical-poetic novel belonging to the later period of the author's work. In search of a better life, a soldier from East Germany, Friedrich Baro, deserts to the West and, by circumstances, begins to engage in the funeral business. Business gradually improves, and Friedrich realizes that he has become part of a large commercial enterprise that humiliates the dignity of the deceased and turns him into a mere statistical unit. Baro is close to madness; money does not bring him joy, and the problem he himself calls «the problem of Aladdin» becomes unsolvable for him: possessing immense power, Baro cannot find the right way to use it...