"A venture in extreme speculation" is Carruth's own summation of After the Stranger. His book, however, is more than that. It is a dazzling new approach to philosophical inquiry (or at least one that has not seen much use in this century). It is an examination of the artist's affect on other men's lives-and of his responsibility. And it is a deeply felt, deeply moving homage to the life and work of a leading European writer by one of the most interesting of America's young men of letters.