A New History of German Literature : , (Harvard University Press Reference Library)

Review
The range spanned by the essays included in this volume is unusual, both in mere chronological terms and thanks to the diversity of approaches chosen by the authors; the best of scholarship has been made easily accessible even to the non-specialized reader by the contributors themselves and the highly innovative presentation of their texts. This volume is a brilliant achievement.

Book Description
Contributors include: Amy M. Hollywood on medieval women mystics, Jan-Dirk M�ller on Gutenberg, Marion Aptroot on the Yiddish Renaissance, Emery Snyder on the Baroque novel, J. B. Schneewind on Natural Law, Maria Tatar on the Grimm brothers, Arthur Danto on Hegel, Reinhold Brinkmann on Schubert, Anthony Grafton on Burckhardt, Stanley Corngold on Freud, Andreas Huyssen on Rilke, Greil Marcus on Dada, Eric Rentschler on Nazi cinema, Elisabeth Young-Bruehl on Hannah Arendt, Gordon A. Craig on G�nter Grass, Edward Dimendberg on Holocaust memorials. The revolutionary spirit that animates the culture of the Germans has been alive for at least twelve centuries, far longer than the dramatically fragmented and reshaped political entity known as Germany. German culture has been central to Europe, and it has contributed the transforming spirit of Lutheran religion, the technology of printing as a medium of democracy, the soulfulness of Romantic philosophy, the structure of higher education, and the tradition of liberal socialism to the essential character of modern American life. In this book leading scholars and critics capture the spirit of this culture in some 200 original essays on events in German literary history. Rather than offering a single continuous narrative, the entries focus on a particular literary work, an event in the life of an author, a historical moment, a piece of music, a technological invention, even a theatrical or cinematic premiere. Together they give the reader a surprisingly unified sense of what it is that has allowed Meister Eckhart, Hildegard of Bingen, Luther, Kant, Goethe, Beethoven, Benjamin, Wittgenstein, Jelinek, and Sebald to provoke and enchant their readers. From the earliest magical charms and mythical sagas to the brilliance and desolation of 20th-century fiction, poetry, and film, this illuminating reference book invites readers to experience the full range of German literary culture and to investigate for themselves its disparate and unifying themes.


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What is truly extraordinary about this collection of 200 essays is that it succeeds masterfully in distilling the essence of the German literary and intellectual legacy, spanning well over 800 years. Each only several pages long, the essays limn not just the great names, such as Hegel, Kant, Goethe, Beethoven, Freud, and many more but also literary works, themes, historical moments, pieces of music, etc. Leading specialists, scholars, and critics offer a wide variety of contributions covering, from the 13th century onward, such varied topics as early German sagas, Nazi cinema, theatrical premiers, and the Yiddish Renaissance. The coverage actually stretches all the way to the 21st century with a single piece, an essay about W.G. Sebald, who died in 2001. Each essay is appended with brief bibliographical references. Designed for the general, nonspecialized reader as well as the advanced student of German literary and cultural history, this book would be an excellent addition to all literature collections.-Ali Houissa, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.


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