This study explores the interplay between theme and form in the writings of Willy Kyrklund. It investigates the relationship between the concept of “människans villkor” (the human condition), the rules of literature and the use of mathematics. Using a combined methodology of close reading, according to the principles of new criticism and hermeneutics, with narratology, this study analyses several texts covering a wide span of Kyrklund’s oeuvre. Special attention is devoted to short prose and the narrative strategies and aesthetics of short stories. Furthermore this study looks at the strategies Kyrklund employs in order to dispel the illusions of literature and direct the reader’s attention to the textuality of the text. It concludes that the interest in “människans villkor” and the constructions of literature is widely interconnected and a part of a broader interest in structures and rules. Using the short story format, Kyrklund emphasizes the structures and conditions which shape literature and human existence. This is also achieved through certain narrative strategies heavily characterized by distance. The reader is thereby invited to follow the events from a higher perspective, where the conditions, “människans villkor”, become more evident. The scepticism towards language and literature is also reflected in the praise and use of mathematics, which elevates the human mind beyond the unreliability of language and the general calamity of earthly existence. The laws of mathematics are unreachable, and mathematical language is thus used in order to portray a longing for purity and the absolute, which the human being cannot attain.