The extravagantly named Alexander Lernet-Holenia (1897-1976), Viennese poet, playwright and novelist, has of late enjoyed a revival with the near cult status of his novella Baron Bagge (first published in 1936) in which a military officer embarks on a solo journey by horseback through the Carpathian Mountains after – apparently – his entire squadron has been ambushed and wiped out. Its structure, which emphasises the elliptical and the supernatural, ensures that while being absolutely a work of its time it somehow belongs to all time. The same goes for the weirdly prescient, newly reissued Count Luna (Penguin Classics, £9.99), elegantly...