KILLING THE SECOND DOG <i> by Mark Hlasko translated by Tomasz Mirkowicz (Cane Hill Press: $8.95) </i>

A bitterly unhappy tale of life in exile by one of the most gifted Polish writers of the postwar generation. Condemned by the Communist regime as a “decadent dabbler in literary carrion,” Hlasko spent much of his adult life in self-imposed exile before committing suicide at 35. Unable to find legitimate work on the stage or in films, the narrator of “Killing,” an actor manque, falls in the with Robert, a would-be director. Although he expounds at length on how the classics should be staged, Robert’s real talent as a director manifests itself in a more intimate arena: He transforms the narrator into a man able to seduce wealthy women for their money, rehearsing each phrase and gesture as if he were mounting a revival of “Richard III.” Hlasko never allows sentiment to interfere with his black comedy’s progress to its pitiless conclusion.