The Secret of the Empire, based on Heimito von Doderer"s own life as a captive of the Russians from 1916 to 1920, portrays the experiences of Austrian war prisoners in Siberia during the Russian Civil War, caught between the inexorable approach of Reds and the often cruel rearguard actions of the Whites and their Czech Legion allies. Threatened by disease, deprived of all that is familiar, and faced by a landscape that is alternately malevolent and breathtakingly beautiful - but always colossal and endless - the young Austrians attempt to deal with their captivity in a variety of ways ranging from withdrawal into the intellectual or artistic spheres to active participation in the political movements to simply finding someone to fall in love with, until they too are finally engulfed by the conflagration which has been glowing on the horizon all the while. - This early novel reveals clearly the beginnings of Doderer"s lifelong preoccupation with the problems of perception of reality and character development or "humanization." Beyond that, however, it is a document of personal courage and enduring friendship set against the backdrop of a Russia unknown to most of us.