After 1945 there was general consensus among western European intellectuals that no authors of 'high' literary standing could possibly have compromised themselves in their relations with the totalitarian systems. With reference to three case studies - Curzio Malaparte, Louis-Ferdinand Ciline, Gottfried Benn - the study examines how literary criticism deals with authors who fly in the face of this declared incompatibility between aesthetic achievement and moral dereliction. In so doing it points up paradigmatic argumentation structures that have asserted themselves to this day, demonstrating the point with reference to more recent debates (e.g. those involving Peter Handke and Martin Walser).