马格里斯小说中的主角是一个多重反叛角色：如萨尔瓦多·西皮科（Salvatore Cipico ） ， 南斯拉夫共产主义集中营中的一员；又如约根·约根森（Jurgen Jurgensen ） ， 被迫自掘坟墓的短命冰岛国王；又如杰森（Jason ） ， 寻找捉摸不定的真理的神话冒险家。
Magris’s main character is a rebel in more than one embodiment: as Salvatore Cipico, one of the inmates in the communist concentration camp in Yugoslavia; as Jurgen Jurgensen,  ephemeral king of Iceland and a convict forced to build his own jail; and as Jason, the mythic adventurer searching for the volatile truth.