Book excerpt: 'The Life of the Servant' is one of the world's greatest religious biographies. It is the work of a saint - one of that remarkable trio of 14th century German mystics, of whom the others were Eckhardt and Tauler - who was also a poet. The book was never intended for publication, and owes its preservation to an accident. What Suso confided to his 'spiritual daughter' was meant for her ears alone. In order to console a highly gifted woman in the acute sufferings that preceded her death he unfolded his own hidden life. The value of the book lies in its remarkable simplicity coupled with its unsurpassed poetic beauty.