2002

BD -- Literature and Literary Studies

Le Dictionnaire du littéraire [Dictionary of Literary Terms]. Paul Aron, Denis Saint-Jacques, and Alain Viala. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 2002. xxv, 634 p. 25 cm. ISBN 2-130-51690-4: EUR 45.00

Dictionnaire des genres et notions littéraires [Dictionary of Genres and Literary Ideas]. François Nourissier. New expanded ed. Paris: Encyclopaedia Universalis; Albin Michel, 2001. 977 p. 21 cm. ISBN 2-226-12236-2: EUR 27.00

One of the more obvious results of current academic interest in the various aspects of literary theory, discourse analysis, and rhetoric is a spate of new dictionaries in various languages which attempt to define literary terms, genres, and concepts in light of this new scholarship.

The editors of Le Dictionnaire du littéraire [DL], Paul Aron, Denis Saint-Jacques, and Alain Viala, have not attempted a French version of The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism (Baltimore, 1994), annotated in R. Balay, ed. Guide to Reference Books (Chicago, 1996) #BE68. They have instead produced an interesting if somewhat eccentric reference work of signed articles (with a list of contributors and their academic affiliations) on various aspects of literature, ranging from the obvious (conte [tale], allegorie, mythe) to the more obscure (badinage [banter], pataphysique [Alfred Jarry’s “science of imaginary solutions”], querelles). In the words of the editors, “This dictionary does not aim to serve as a repertory of terms from such and such a critical or theoretical current, but of all the terms used to discuss the ‘literary.’” The articles, which include bibliographical references (limited to five or less), consist of brief “definitions” which are then fleshed out with more lengthy descriptions and examples of the term under discussion, though none is longer than a page or so.

Indexing has never been a strength of French scholarship, and the index to DL is no exception. It is, instead, a list of notions complémentaires deemed less important than those used for the actual articles, with references to the articles where these terms are mentioned. But there are no authors or literary works listed. In the article on the nouvelle, for example, Maupassant is discussed at some length, but there is no entry for him in the index.

Encyclopaedia Universalis and Albin Michel have also recently published a new augmented edition of their Dictionnaire des Genres et notions littéraire [DGNL], which is a bit more like the Johns Hopkins Guide in French. The current edition includes 16 new articles and 56 more pages than the earlier edition (1997), though they have not bothered to mention which articles are new. It does however include a “real” index and a list of contributors, many of whom are (or were) leading French intellectuals. To quote from the introduction by Pierre-Marc de Biasi, “...the fruit of a careful selection, this volume integrates in alphabetical order the lexical, theoretical and historical contents of the broad sectors that form the horizons of literary studies: genres, currents, forms, rhetoric, critical terminology, reception, theorists, etc.” These articles were selected from the complete Encyclopaedia Universalis, and as François Nourissier says in his preface, “the articles ... are not always models of objectivity.” Be that as it may, the articles gleaned from the Encyclopaedia cover a wider range of topics than those in the Aron volume, and their average length is somewhat greater as well. Still, one has to bear in mind that many of these articles were written some time ago, that they cover topics in a somewhat more traditional way, and that they were originally intended as encyclopedic entries, though written by important people in their respective fields. To illustrate, the article in DL by Robert Dion on “Critique littéraire” is about one page in length with a few bibliographical references. The corresponding article by Antoine Compagnon in the Encyclopaedia Universalis volume is more than fifteen pages long, with almost two pages of references organized by various aspects of the subject.

What is rather unfortunate is that together they make a pretty good reference book, each bringing a slightly different approach to the task at hand. If one must choose, Encyclopaedia Universalis’ DGNL is probably the better choice, but Aron’s work includes rarely described literary concepts and fills the gaps left by the more traditional dictionary.

Guide Niçaise des associations d’amis d’auteurs: 2001 [Niçaise Guide to Associations of Friends of Authors]. Ed. Jean-Étienne Huret. Paris: Librairie Niçaise, 2000. 254 p. 24 cm. ISBN 2-9511635-1-7: FF 150.00

This directory, which the publisher proposes to issue annually, comprises 158 French and a few Belgian and Swiss organizations—be they centers, societies, “friends,” or institutes—devoted to individual authors. Included are not only private societies, but also foundations, as well as private and governmental institutes. The great majority of the authors (165) are francophone; however, the French associations for Dickens, Pourtalès, Tolkien, and Tolstoy (to name a few) are also represented.

The Guide is organized alphabetically by authors’ last names; where there are multiple entries for one author, they are usually given alphabetically by organization title. However, Zola associations, for example, are in no discernable order. The Guide concludes with a list of approximately 60 organizations that did not respond to the survey for whatever reason (moved, dormant, extinct, etc.). There are no indices, nor is a complete listing of all authors included. An introduction discusses some of the reasons to form such an organization, as well as giving facts and statistics about them.

There is no mention of how the editor derived the initial list of organizations to which surveys were sent, although they appear to be primarily literary. There are certainly organizations for authors that are not included here, for example the Société des amis et lecteurs de Jean Genet http://home.inter.net/berlol/genet98a.htm and the Société des lecteurs d’Henri Michaux http://www.maulpoix.net/Plume.html. It is interesting that there appear to be no associations devoted to francophone writers of non-European origins (perhaps it is in part because only four organizations focus on living authors?).

The authors’ birth and death dates, as well as place of birth and death are given. For each organization, contact information is supplied, including e-mail and web addresses if existent (28 organizations). The organization’s legal status is listed, along with the date of its creation. The price of membership and number of members are also provided, as are names of administrative personnel and board members. Also listed, when appropriate, are journals and other publications published by the organization. Detailed information about the journals includes a description, editors, price, and availability. If the organization holds or has held conferences or colloquia, those are noted. The Guide offers information about author archives and records, some of which are held by these organizations.

The Guide is available free of charge on the web at http://www.amis-auteurs-nicaise.gallimard.fr/index.htm, and the editor notes that the site will be maintained and updated. The introduction on the web site claims that it contains 200 authors and 100 non-responding organizations (an increase of approximately 20 and 40, respectively). There is a new entry for Des Périers, who does not appear in the print version (not even in the list of non-respondents). Also through the web site it is possible to find the web address for the Amis de Colette, which is not included in the print version; however, the web address is incorrectly entered and even when corrected is a dead end. A web search, however, does reveal that the Amis de Colette can be joined through the Centre d’Études Colette (an institution not mentioned in the Guide). There are several dead links, either because the link is incorrect or the page no longer exists. While this is perhaps an inevitable problem when dealing with the Internet, it is not reassuring as to accuracy or frequency of updates.

The site itself is reasonably easy to use, although the information is framed in a very small box in the center of the screen, thus requiring considerable scrolling to read. In addition, it is not possible to see if there is more than one organization attached to an author without scrolling through the entire record. The infinitesimal previous- and next-record arrows are nearly hidden in the design of the site. One of the usual strengths of a web site, the ability to search, is unfortunately not permitted.

This unique Guide will be very useful as a first step to those researching an author, needing to discover and contact a relevant organization, or wanting to learn if an organization has publications or archives. However, use of the Guide should still be complemented by searching on the Internet, as well as by checking telephone directories. Given that a version of the Guide, despite its faults, is freely available on the web, purchasing this volume is not necessary at this point. However, large institutions may find it valuable to have a record of associations or directors, and scholars interested in a given organization at a certain point in time will want to acquire the book.

Lexikon Literatur des Mittelalters [Dictionary of Medieval Literature]. Comp. Charlotte Bretscher-Gisiger. Stuttgart; Weimar: Metzler. 24 cm. ISBN 3-476-01917-9 (set): EUR 64.90 [02-2-298]

Vol. 1. Themen und Gattungen [Themes and Genres]. 2002. xxxvii, 530 p. ISBN 3-476-01915-2: EUR 39.90 Vol. 2. Autoren und Werke [Authors and Works]. 2002. xxxvii, 467 p. ISBN 3-476-01916-0: EUR 39.90

After the completion of the original Lexikon des Mittelalters in 1999 (see RREA 5:220), it was republished as a special edition, a CD-ROM, and a paperback edition. Now the first topical volumes, which cover the literature of the Middle Ages, have appeared; probably more will follow. In this case, the articles included are unchanged from the earlier editions. Because of their excellent content, this is not necessarily a problem. However, the updating of the bibliographies would be much more important, since some for articles from the beginning of the alphabet were completed in the 1970s. The preface promises “survey articles on the most important topics and genres” as well as a representative selection of authors and anonymous works. As most libraries will have the complete work in their collection, the topical volumes are aimed more at the private reader. But even private readers should consider digging deeper into their pockets and purchasing the paperback edition of the complete work. [sh/vh]

Der Romanführer: der Inhalt der Romane und Novellen der Weltliteratur [Guide to Novels: The Content of Novels and Novellas of World Literature]. Stuttgart: Hiersemann. 23 cm. [02-2-300]

Vol. 37. Index to vols. 1–36. Ed. Klaus-Peter Walter. 2001. xvi, 789 p. ISBN 3-7772-0127-8: EUR 68.00

The most recent volume of this series devoted to plot summaries of the best novels and novellas of world literature comprises an index to the first 36 volumes. It provides various search capabilities and reflects the breadth of the work done so far, covering literature from Afghanistan (two titles) to Zimbabwe (three titles). Nonetheless, the focus is unmistakably (West) European. Use of the index also makes clear that left-wing or liberal writers are often passed over or receive only partial treatment. More even-handed coverage would be desirable, as would a volume that deals more thoroughly with German literature of the Weimar Republic than did the early volumes of the series, which began publication in 1950. A more substantial introduction to this comprehensive index would also have been useful. [ab/ldl]

Das Fischer-Lexikon Literatur [The Fischer Dictionary of Literature]. Ed. Ulfert Ricklefs. New ed. 3 vols. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2002. xxvii, 2,132 p. 19 cm. ISBN 3-596-15496-0: EUR 24.90 [02-1-051]

This publication is not actually a “new edition” of the Fischer-Lexikon Literatur that appeared in 1996 (see RREA 2:129): the paper is thicker and the price has been reduced by one-third, but the organization and content are unchanged. Articles are long, invitingly readable, punctuated by headings, and followed by moderately long bibliographies that have not been updated. The 65 authors are mostly instructors at German universities, and the 88 articles fall into these categories: literature and its functions (7), elements and structures (13), genres (33), periods and styles (13), effects and trends in reception (9), philology and literary life (14), and literary theory (3). The intended audience is students of German literature, from which most examples are taken. [sh/jpn]

Literatur- und Kulturtheorie: ein Handbuch gegenwärtiger Begriffe [Literary and Cultural Theory: A Handbook of Current Concepts]. Vladimir Biti; transl. Ljiljana Saric (original title: Pojmovnik suvremene knjizevne teorije). Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2001. 989 p. 19 cm. (Rowohlts Enzyklopädie, 55631). ISBN 3-499-55631-6: EUR 19.90 [02-1-052]

This translation of a work that first appeared in Croatian contains roughly 240 articles detailing concepts employed in literary criticism. Examples are articles on homology, grammar, competence, mentality, and narratology. The work serves the enlightening purpose of illustrating the degree to which literary theory has become a self-referential, esoteric, and pretentious discipline. Heavy emphasis is placed upon how concepts have changed in recent decades under the influence of semiotics, deconstructionism, and critics such as Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes. There are cross-references to other articles and to the more than 1,600 titles in a bibliography at the end, organized in a single alphabet by author. [hak/jpn]

Metzler-Lexikon Literatur- und Kulturtheorie: Ansätze—Personen— Grundbegriffe [Metzler Lexicon of Literary and Cultural Theory: Approaches, Persons, Fundamentals]. Ed. Ansgar Nünning. 2d rev. and expanded ed. Stuttgart; Weimar: Metzler, 2001. ix, 706 p. 24 cm. ISBN 3-476-01692-7: EUR 29.90 [02-1-053]

Originally published in 1998 (see RREA 5:86), the second edition of this work has been augmented by about 130 articles, dealing mainly with three areas. First, the “interdisciplinary and intermedial dimension of theory construction” has been emphasized more strongly in new survey articles and additions to previous entries. New entries include pieces on theoreticians such as Nelson Goodman, Emmanuel Lévinas, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Jean Piaget, and on expressions such as “archive,” “dispositive,” “interculturality,” and “liminality” that reflect the unsystematic and diffuse coverage of everything imaginable by current literary scholarship.

Second, articles have been added about concepts from the area of media theory, in response to the “further development of philology into an interdisciplinary scholarship of culture and media.” These include entries on “Theory of Media Genres,” and “Media and Literature,” and on media and theater theorists such as Neil Postman, Antonin Artaud, and Martin Esslin.

The third area of emphasis includes portraits of earlier theoreticians, such as Herder, Lessing, Kant, and Baudelaire, as well as articles on the literary theories of the Enlightment and Imagism. One must welcome the fact that Herder, Lessing, and Kant are not excluded from a volume where Neil Postman turns up, but it is unfortunate that such a basic work as Monika Fick’s Lessing-Handbuch, (also published by Metzler, only a year earlier; see RREA 7:107) is not included in the bibliographical references.

To be sure, the ambition of the work is to deal with the new, newest, and super-new, rather than with historical contexts. However, the lack of an interest in history is evident in the bibliographical references in individual articles: for example, the work of Gustav Radbruch is an essential element of scholarship in the area of literature and law, but his name appears neither in the article on that subject nor in its bibliography. Unpardonable is the lack of a table of contents, and the organization of the bibliography leaves much to be desired. [hak/nb]

Handbuch deutschsprachiger Literaturzeitschriften [Handbook of German-Language Literary Periodicals]. Ed. Dorothée Leidig and Jürgen Bacia. Duisburg: Autoren-Verlag Matern, 2001. 179 p. 22 cm. ISBN 3-929899-80-9: EUR 19.00 (Autoren-Verlag Matern, Menzelstr. 34, D-47053 Duisburg, e-mail: post@autorenverlag-matern.de) [02-1-054]

The second attempt since 1997 to compile a bibliography of current and past German-language literary periodicals by means of surveys, personal research, and visits to the Deutsches Literaturarchiv [German Literary Archive] in Marbach and the Deutsche Bibliothek [German National Library] was taken on by a new team from the Duisburger Archiv für Alternatives Schriftum [Duisburg Archive of Alternative Literature]. This handbook, with a reporting date of May 31, 2001, lists 454 titles, mostly from German-speaking countries, but also containing relevant Germanlanguage periodicals from other countries, as well. It focuses primarily on prose and poetry periodicals, including both print and electronic, yearbooks, and almanacs; other periodicals outside this core area may be included if they also contain primary literature in German. In general, the stipulation that only primary literary texts are included in each periodical justifies why literary criticism, purely essayistic journals, review publications, and similar journals are excluded from the handbook. Sixty-three Austrian, 19 Swiss, and 49 electronic periodicals are listed in the three indexes. An index of German periodicals by place of publication was not included, but would have made the work of libraries with depository copy assignments easier. Additional editions have been announced, and it would be helpful if the publisher numbered them. That the back cover of the current edition describes it as a “first edition” is a mistake, since it is actually only a revised version of the volume published in 1997. [sh/bwv]

Informationshandbuch deutsche Literaturwissenschaft: mit Internet- und CD-ROM-Recherche [Information Handbook for the Study of German Literature: Covering Research Using the Internet and CD-ROMs]. Hansjürgen Blinn. 4th completely rev. and expanded ed. Frankfurt am Main: Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2001. 554 p. 19 cm. (Fischer Taschenbücher, 15268). ISBN 3-596-152-68-2: EUR 14.90 [02-1-055]

First published in 1982, and updated in 1990 and 1994, Informationshandbuch deutsche Literaturwissenschaft is the leading information source for students of German literature. With its affordable price, this work should be included in every academic and public library. The previous edition was discussed in RREA 1:252. The current edition has been expanded by about 60 pages, with the most remarkable additions being CD-ROMs—now becoming available for an increasing number of reference sources—as well as Internet and e-mail addresses. The inclusion of this information represents an advantage over the approach taken by Carl Peschek’s Praxis der Literaturinfomation Germanistik (Berlin, 2000). Chapter A of the handbook acquaints students with bibliographies and search strategies; chapters B through E focus on standard reference works, both print and electronic. Chapter F delves into special collecting areas and special collections. With the present structure of the book, however, it is tedious to find all the entries that refer to a particular author, as references are spread over all the chapters, and the well-intentioned index does not solve the problem. [sh/bwv]

Kleine Literaturgeschichte der DDR [Concise History of GDR Literature]. Wolfgang Emmerich. Expanded new ed. Berlin: Aufbau-Taschenbuch-Verlag, 2000. 640 p. 19 cm. (Aufbau-Taschenbuch, 8052). ISBN 3-7466-8052-2: EUR 12.50 [02-1-059]

Emmerich last revised his notable history of the literature of the German Democratic Republic for the publisher Kiepenheuer in 1996. That edition, on which the 2000 paperback is based, was the first publication to pay particular attention to the literature that came into existence toward the end of the GDR. The bibliography has been updated, and many recent publications, including those published in 2000, have been included in this new edition. Errors in the earlier publication have been corrected to some degree. With its updated bibliography, the new edition is worth acquiring, even for those libraries that own the 1996 hardback volume. [hak/bwv]

Das literarische Berlin im 20. Jahrhundert: mit aktuellen Adressen und Informationen [Literary Berlin in the 20th Century: With Current Addresses and Information]. Ed. Silvio Vietta. Stuttgart: Reclam, 2001. 275 p. ill. 21 cm. ISBN 3-15-010481-5: EUR 19.90 [02-1-060]

This very readable guide to literary Berlin covers a variety of topics, such as Expressionism and Dadaism in the city, Franz Hessel and Walter Benjamin, Joachim Ringelnatz and the cabaret, the journalist Kurt Tucholsky and Berlin as a newspaper town, Alfred Döblin’s Berlin Alexanderplatz and Irmgard Keun’s Das kunstseidene Mädchen, Erich Kästner and Berlin during Nazism, theater in Berlin before and after the War (Bertolt Brecht and Heiner Müller), the divided city (Christa Wolf and Uwe Johnson), and Berlin in the nineties (fall of the wall and new seat of government). The editor did not intend for this volume to be either systematic or complete. It is meant to present examples and includes excerpts of texts and numerous illustrations. The appendix lists literary cafés and agencies and cultural organizations in Berlin. This is an attractive guide for the Berlin traveler interested in literature and the places associated with it. [hak/ba]

Wissenschaft—Literatur—Religion: Bibliographie Wilhelm Gössmann 1954– 2001 [Scholarship—Literature—Religion: Wilhelm Gössmann Bibliography, 1954–2001]. Martin Hollender. Düsseldorf: Grupello, 2001. 175 p. 21 cm. ISBN 3-933749-64-6: EUR 22.80 [02-1-061]

Hollender compiled this bibliography in honor of the 75th birthday of his dissertation advisor Wilhelm Gössmann. Gössmann is well known as a literary scholar of Annette von Droste-Hülshof and Heinrich Heine, and as an author of poetry and prose and translator of biblical texts. He has taught literature at various German universities, including the University of Düsseldorf. The bibliography is based on Gössmann’s private archive (which will eventually be given to the Heinrich Heine Institute in Düsseldorf ) and lists 1,074 items—both texts by Gössmann and reviews of his works. Bibliographically perfect, the entries are arranged by publication type and theme, and include annotations on the contents of the most important works. A name index concludes the volume. Happy the university professor who can count such a competent bibliographer among his students! [sh/ba]

Heinrich Hauser—Leben und Werk: eine kritisch-biographische Werk-Bibliographie; “Dem Leben unter die Haut kriechen” [Heinrich Hauser—Life and Work: A Critical-Biographical Bibliography of His Works; “To Creep Under the Skin of Life”]. Grith Graebner. Aachen: Shaker, 2001. 502 p. 21 cm. (Berichte aus der Literaturwissenschaft). Also Diss., Köln Univ., 2001. ISBN 3-8265-9406-1: EUR 44.50 [02-1-062]

One of the most prominent young authors of the Weimar Republic, Heinrich Hauser (1901–1955), is barely known today. Thanks to the initiative of the Weidle publishing company in Bonn, Hauser’s novel Donner überm Meer [Thunder Over the Sea], originally published in 1929 by S. Fischer, is again available, but his prize-winning novel Brackwasser [Bitter Waters], and numerous other novels, stories, travel descriptions, newspaper articles, and essays, are no longer in print. Partly to blame may have been his extraordinary artistic versatility, as well as his apparent inability to forge permanent bonds: he was married five times, never stayed anywhere very long, and changed publishers frequently. As well, he died relatively young, and, returning in 1945 from six years in the United States, was never able to feel comfortable again in Germany.

Grith Graebner has produced the first substantial biography and bibliography dealing with Heinrich Hauser. Her thorough research testifies to her personal engagement in her project. She has corrected data in the extant secondary literature and has unearthed missing or unknown works by Hauser, who was active not only as an author, but also as a photographer and maker of documentary films. At times, however, it would have been preferable if Graebner had preserved somewhat more distance to her subject.

The volume has apparently been published without first being edited by the publishing house, and there are frequent typos and repetitions. In view of the admirable diligence of the author, it is surprising that she has dispensed with an index that would have facilitated the use of her work.

The jewel of the book is the bibliography, subdivided into 12 chronologically organized sections. Minor quibbles about it cannot detract from the author’s achievement. Further research on Hauser will have to be based on Graebner’s extensive work. [ab/nb]

Musikalien und Tonträger zu Hölderlin: 1806–1999; Sonderband auf der Grundlage der Sammlungen des Hölderlin-Archivs der Württembergischen Landesbibliothek [Printed Music and Sound Recordings Related to Hölderlin, 1808–1999: Supplementary Volume Based on the Collections of the Hölderlin Archive of the Württemberg State Library]. Ed. Werner Paul Sohnle, Marianne Schütz, and Ernst Mögel for the Hölderlin-Archiv. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog, 2000. xxviii, 596 p. 25 cm. (Internationale Hölderlin-Bibliographie, Sonderband). ISBN 3-7728-1928-1: EUR 224.00; EUR 188.00 if bought together with IHB [02-1-063]

Internationale Hölderlin-Bibliographie (IHB): auf der Grundlage der Neuerwerbungen des Hölderlin-Archivs der Württembergischen Landesbibliothek; Quellen und Sekundärliteratur, Rezeption und Rezensionen [International Hölderlin Bibliography (IHB): Based on New Acquisitions of the Hölderlin Archive of the Württemberg State Library; Sources and Secondary Literature, Reception and Reviews]. Werner Paul Sohnle and Marianne Schütz for the Hölderlin-Archiv. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt: Frommann-Holzboog. 25 cm. Each issue in 2 vols.: (1) Erschließungsband [Indexes and Key to Abbreviations] and (2) Materialband [Bibliography]. After 1995/96 (1998) no longer published in printed form; continued electronically. ISSN 0178-2142. 1995/96 (1998),1–2. ISBN 3-7728-1925-7 (Vol. 1), ISBN 3-7728-1926-5 (Vol. 2): EUR 488.00 (both vols.) [02-1-064]

The first title above is a supplementary volume to the second (IHB), previously reviewed in RREO (94-3/4-448) and the last volume of the IHB to be published in paper form. Listed here are editions of musical scores and recordings, as well as spoken word recordings, and translations of Hölderlin texts found in musical collections. Some of the approximately 800 persons listed are well-known as composers (Brahms, Orff, Schönberg), and others (Bettina von Arnim and Adorno) are not. The sound recordings (cassettes, gramophone records, and CDs) number 1,248. The bibliographical information is accurate and complete. Several indexes offer systematic and alphabetical access to the volume, including a chronological list of scores (1806– 1999), and a composer index with brief biographical information. This impressive volume is less an appendix to the IHB than its crowning capstone. [ss/mrh]

Heinrich-Mann-Bibliographie [Heinrich Mann Bibliography]. Brigitte Nestler. Morsum/Sylt: Cicero. 25 cm. [02-1-065]

Fifty Years as a Thomas Mann Bibliographer / Fünfzig Jahre Thomas Mann Bibliograph: biographische Anmerkungen und Bibliographie [: Biographical Annotations and Bibliography]. Klaus W. Jonas, with contributions by Thomas Mann and introduction by Thomas Sprecher. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2000. xviii, 157 p. ill. 24 cm. (Bibliographien: Buch, Bibliothek, Literatur, 3). ISBN 3-447-04221-4: EUR 39.00 [02-1-066]

This is a dual language (English-German) bio-bibliography of Klaus W. Jonas, who is well known as a bibliographer of Thomas Mann. Jonas was born in 1920 in Stettin, lived and taught in the United States from 1948 to 1990, when he returned to Germany. His research interests are in German and English literature, culture, and history. Jonas’ bibliographical work centers on Thomas Mann, W. Somerset Maugham, and Golo Mann. The bibliography under review here includes remarks by these three writers on Jonas’ work, as well as an introduction by Thomas Sprecher, director of the Thomas Mann Archive in Zurich. These (Part I) are followed by a listing of Jonas’ works on the primary literature (Part II). Part III covers the secondary literature. Part IV includes a chronological overview of Jonas’ life. The bibliography concludes with indexes of personal names and titles of periodicals and newspapers. The bibliography was compiled by Jonas himself; his bibliographies of Thomas Mann as well as a list of reviews of them make up the bulk of the book. Jonas is currently working on a bibliography of Golo Mann’s writings. [sh/ba]

Georg Potempa in memoriam. Ed. Timm A. Zenner, with contributions by Georg Potempa, Brigitte Nestler, Gregor Ackermann, and Timm A. Zenner. Morsum/ Sylt: Cicero, 2000. 68 p. 23 cm. ISBN 3-89120-018-8: EUR 22.00 [02-1-067]

Very different from the Festschrift for Klaus W. Jonas (see RREA 8:104) is the small, elegant volume under review here, published in honor of Georg Potempa, who died in 1998 at the age of 70. It contains a supplement, dating from that year, to Potempa’s bibliography of Mann; addenda and corrections to that bibliography and to two other works on Mann by Potempa; and seven bibliographical notes on Mann (by Ackermann), including a brief article on a previously unpublished letter from Mann to Wilhelm Michel concerning his book Hölderlin und der deutsche Geist [Hölderlin and the German Spirit]. The last part recounts the longstanding, positive relationship between the publisher and Potempa. This book is an homage not only to a great bibliographer but also to a publisher well versed in bibliography and typography. [sh/ba]

Thomas-Mann-Handbuch [Thomas Mann Handbook]. Ed. Helmut Koopmann. 3d rev. ed. Stuttgart: Kröner, 2001. xviii, 1,036 p. 18 cm. ISBN 3-520-82803-0: EUR 40.00 [02-1-068]

This is the third expanded and updated edition of a title that was first published in 1990. The second edition was reviewed in RREA 2:157. Compared to the second edition, this third one contains 30 additional pages and covers Thomas Mann research since 1995. It also includes a supplement to the previous bibliography. The handbook lists, of course, the most recent Mann bibliographies. Librarians are well advised to use this reference work for filing gaps in their collections on Thomas Mann. [sh/ba]

Das große Karl-May-Figurenlexikon: die Figuren Karl Mays nach den Texten der Erstausgaben [Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Karl May Characters: Karl May’s Characters According to the First Edition Texts]. Ed. Bernhard Kosciuszko. 3d rev. and expanded ed. Berlin: Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, 2000. 560 p. 24 cm. ISBN 3-89602-244-X: EUR 25.90 [02-1-069]

Keeping in mind that Karl May’s characters are often encoded self-portrayals, the editor has issued the third edition of his extensive Grosses Karl-May-Figuren Lexikon. The first two editions were published by Igel-Verlag in 1991 and 1996. In an effort at completeness, both named and unnamed characters are considered. Articles include descriptions of the characters, their fates, and their notable activities. Lengthy, illustrated articles about important characters are organized in varying ways, e.g., the article “Old Shatterhand” begins with an overview of the character (novels in which he appeared, variant names, and outstanding activities), followed by an essay about the genesis and development of the character. Few authors enjoy such a substantial lexicon of their characters. [sh/rm]

Schiller-Vertonungen [Schiller Set to Music]. Georg Günther. 2 vols. Marbach: Deutsche Schillergesellschaft, 2001. 270, 272 p. ill. music. 21 cm. (Verzeichnisse, Berichte, Informationen. Deutsches Literaturarchiv, 27; Bestandskataloge der Musikaliensammlung im Schiller-Nationalmuseum und Deutschen Literaturarchiv). ISBN 3-933679-61-3: EUR 41.00 [02-1-070]

This work, although more complete than any previous list of works having to do with Schiller and music, is still limited, based as it is on the holdings of various collections of the Schiller National Museum. Omitted are the familiar Italian operas, with the exception of the libretto and a piano-vocal score of Verdi’s Luisa Miller. The work includes 30 manuscripts and 350 printed works, from Schiller’s lifetime until very recently. In addition to musical settings of individual poems and dramatic settings, there are orchestral works, such as overtures, tone poems, and intermezzos, as well as celebratory works of various kinds. Both volumes are arranged by composer’s name, but while the first volume concentrates on bibliographic information, the second gives more details about the music, including incipits in musical notation. The work is exceptionally accurate and typographically excellent. It sets the standard for similar forthcoming volumes on Mörike and Hesse. [ss/mrh]

Martin Walser in Kritik und Forschung: eine Bibliographie [Martin Walser in Criticism and Research: A Bibliography]. Matthias N. Lorenz. Bielefeld: Aisthesis-Verlag, 2002. 258 p. 21 cm. (Bibliographien zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte, 11). ISBN 3-89528-354-1: EUR 42.00 [02-1-071]

The fact that until now no current, comprehensive, and reliable bibliography of the great literary figure Martin Walser has been published is understandable, given the high cost of producing bibliographies of writers who are still actively writing and involved politically. In this respect, Walser is comparable to Günter Grass. In March 2002, the first independent bibliography since Seuerssig and Beckermann’s 1970 volume was published by Aisthesis-Verlag in its Bibliographien zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte series. In his desire for comprehensiveness, the author takes into consideration all types and formats of publications, including Internet sources, gray literature (such as unprinted radio contributions and unpublished master’s theses), and especially newspaper articles. The bibliography is divided into five chapters: (1) general information, including segments from interviews; (2) themes; (3) works (organized by genre and then chronologically by works); (4) individuals and characters, including comparisons with contemporary authors and discussions about role models and characters from his works; (5) peace prize speeches and the Walser-Bubis debate. The bibliographic descriptions of the approximately 2,500 titles are adequate. More standardization among entries would have been beneficial. Another shortcoming is the lack of an author index, a standard of a good bibliography. This index would have been of great interest, given Walser’s involvement in literary and political controversies. Still, the value of this bibliography of a leading figure in contemporary German literature is only marginally reduced by these slight shortcomings. [sh/bwv]

Handbuch zur deutsch-jüdischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts [Handbook on German-Jewish Literature in the 20th Century]. Ed. Daniel Hoffmann. Paderborn: Schöningh, 2002. 488 p. 24 cm. ISBN 3-506-73932-8: EUR 65.40 [02-1-072]

The 16 signed studies in the book are grouped under three themes: Jewish renaissance in the 20th century, Jewish writers and German literature in the first half of the 20th century, and writers after the Second World War. Religious and philosophical trends in the work of Hermann Cohen, Martin Buber, and Franz Rosenzweig are one focus of the first part. The much longer second part features erudite, insightful studies reflecting on such figures as Stefan George, Gustav Landauer, Lion Feuchtwanger, Joseph Roth, Jakob Wassermann, Franz Werfel, Stefan Zweig, and the publisher Daniel Hoffmann, and on such topics as Weimar theater, Viennese modernism, and Jewish hermeneutics. An index of persons augments the helpfulness of this substantial volume, but confirms the impression that the work does not strive for comprehensiveness. Missing are some important lesser-known figures, as well as the influential Hugo Bettauer, whose Stadt ohne Juden is still in print today. [hak/jpn]

Mehrsprachige jüdische Exilliteratur: Autoren des deutschen Sprachraums; Problemaufriß und Auswahlbibliographie [Multilingual Jewish Exile Literature: Authors from the German-Speaking Areas; Outline of the Topic and Selected Bibliography]. Andreas Wittbrodt. Aachen: Shaker, 2001. 275 p. 21 cm. (Berichte aus der Literaturwissenschaft). ISBN 3-8265-9336-7: EUR 49.00 [02-1-073]

This work was realized in a pilot project Jüdische Literatur zwischen Sprachen und Kulturen [Jewish Literature between Languages and Cultures] at the University of Mainz and presents the results of a review of the literary production of Jewish exile writers from German-speaking areas. This work is discussed here because of its extensive bibliography, which makes up about one-third of the book. The bibliography lists the monographic publications of 37 Jewish exile authors who published in German or other languages. The works are arranged by language and grouped into five categories: original publications, translations, translations by the authors of their own works, translations authorized by the authors, and published works. This arrangement is of limited use, however. Authors, such as Paul Celan and Stefan Zweig, are already well covered in other bibliographies (which also include their non-monographic works), and their translations are also well documented. Others (e.g., Dan Pagis, Lotte Kramer, who do not write in German at all), although they meet the criteria for this list, seem out of place alongside writers considered German authors. This leaves only a few authors of interest for multilingual authorship (e.g., Maxime Alexandre, who wrote in German and French and translated both French and German authors). On the whole this is a bibliography of very little value. [sh/jc]

Lexikon der deutschsprachigen Krimi-Autoren [Dictionary of German-Language Crime Fiction Authors]. Ed. Angelika Jokkers, in collaboration with the included authors. München: Verlag der Criminale, 2002. 290 p. 22 cm. ISBN 3-935877-30-7: EUR 24.00. (Buch & Media, Ruffinstr. 21, D-80637 München, e-mail: info@buchmedia.de) [02-1-074]

This bio-bibliographical dictionary of approximately 480 German-language authors of crime novels and stories and similar works for radio, television, and film has its basis in an Internet lexicon on about 150 authors compiled by Reinhard Jahn of the Bochum Crime Fiction Archive at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/karr_wehner/index00.htm. It gives brief biographical information from the authors themselves, entered under the names they use in publications (sometimes pseudonyms with cross references from real names), and short titles of their works. Honors and memberships (particularly in the most important relevant organizations, Das Syndikat and Sisters in Crime) are also included. Internet and e-mail addresses of the authors or their publishers allow contact. This is a useful addition to the general dictionaries of authors. [sh/gh]

Bibliographie der Kriminalerzählungen: 1948–2000 [Bibliography of Mystery Stories: 1948–2000]. Dieter Kästner. Köln: Ross, 2001. 626 p. 22 cm. (Baskerville-Bücher). ISBN 3-930932-51-2: EUR 49.90 [02-1-075]

The first edition of Literatur in Nazi-Deutschland was well received (see RREA 7:90). This expanded edition of the biographical dictionary, with 19 new entries, now covers over 130 authors who published in Germany between 1933 and 1945. The newcomers include Waldemar Bonsels, Franz Fühmann, and Ernst Glaeser, also Ernst Bertram (German professor and friend of Thomas Mann) and Wolf von Niebelschütz, who published his first book, a volume of poems, as a 26-year old in 1939. Among the authors one misses here are, for instance, Erik Reger, Heinrich Spoerl, and Ehm Welk. The bibliographic references, both for individual entries and in the general bibliography, have been updated to include, for instance, Sebastian Graeb-Könnecker’s 2001 collection of sources, Literatur im Dritten Reich, Fritz J. Raddatz’ biography of Gottfried Benn (Berlin, 2001), and Reinhard Zachaus’ study of Fallada’s critical reception (Stuttgart, 2000). Sarkowicz and Mentzer want to portray the literature of that era in its diversity, so they include not only those authors who took a strict party line, but also ambivalent authors and members of the so-called “inner emigration.” With their illuminating introduction and the well-crafted, information-packed articles, they have created a stimulating reference work. [ab/rb]

Deutschsprachige Schriftsteller im Schweizer Exil 1933–1950: eine Ausstellung des Deutschen Exilarchivs 1933–1945 Der Deutschen Bibliothek [German-Speaking Authors in Swiss Exile, 1933–1950: Exhibition of the German Exile Archives 1933–1945 of the German National Library]. Frank Wende. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2002. 344 p. ill. 23 cm. (Gesellschaft für das Buch, 8). ISBN 3-447-04519-1: EUR 19.00 [02-2-305]

This volume continues the Deutsche Bibliothek’s series of works on German-language exile authors in specific countries. Previous titles include authors located in Brazil (see RREA 2:267) and the Netherlands (see RREA 2:266). The main section of this work discusses 22 German-speaking authors who fled to Switzerland during the National Socialist period; the appendix lists ca. 80 additional writers who also took this road. Switzerland was thus a significant exile country, although due to limited publishing opportunities not a particularly fruitful location for German exile literature. The exhibition reflects this in that it devotes itself more to the personal destinies of the exiles than to their literary works. Happily, the exhibition does not limit itself to profiling only well-known authors such as Thomas Mann or Bertolt Brecht, but in a few cases additional information on the works of some lesser-known writers would have been desirable. A skillful combination of letters, photographs, and other documents and commentary provides informative and moving portraits of the writers and serves as a stimulus to further research. One can scarcely expect more from a project of this kind. [ab/jc]

Personalbibliographien österreichischer Dichterinnen und Dichter: von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart [Bibliographies of Austrian Writers: From the Beginnings up to the Present]. Karl F. Stock, Rudolf Heilinger, and Marylène Stock. 2d rev. and expanded ed. 4 vols. München: Saur, 2002. xii, 2,565 p. 25 cm. (1st ed. under the title: Personalbibliographien österreichischer Dichter und Schriftsteller). ISBN 3-598-11570-9: EUR 698.00 [02-2-307]

The second edition of this bibliography of Austrian writers contains nearly four times as many entries as the 1972 first edition. It covers German speaking authors from all epochs who have lived within the current Austrian borders, and it includes bibliographies of all sizes, from book-length to one page. It would be a stretch to call this a bio-bibliography, since biographical data are restricted to career designation and dates of birth and death. This bibliography was extracted from Stock’s extensive bibliographic database, and it is likely that there is quite a bit of overlap with the contents of other Stock bibliographies, such as the Bibliographie österreichischer Bibliographien, Sammelbiographien und Nachschlagewerke (Graz, 1976– ). The fourth volume consists entirely of indexes generated with the assistance of the aforementioned database. Unfortunately, the indexes tend to be hard to use and sometimes display inconsistencies. [sh/ldb]

Verzeichnis der gedruckten Briefe deutscher Autoren des 17. Jahrhunderts [Bibliography of the Printed Letters of German Authors of the 17th Century]. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. 27 cm. (Repertorien zur Erforschung der frühen Neuzeit, 12). [02-2-310]

Part 2. Drucke zwischen 1751 und 1980 [Letters Printed Between 1751 and 1980]. Ed. Thomas Bürger.
A–F. 2002. xcviii, 450 p. ISBN 3-447-04526-4: EUR 159.00
G–J. 2002. p. 451–828. ISBN 3-447-04527-2: EUR 138.00
K–Q. 2002. p. 829–1,170. ISBN 3-447-04528-0: EUR 138.00
R–Z. 2002. p. 1,171–1,480. ISBN 3-447-04529-9: EUR 138.00

This extensive bibliography covers the published letters both of literary writers and of German scholars from various fields. Authors included were born between 1575 and 1675. Part 1 of this set, edited by Monika Estermann and published in 1992, lists letters published between 1600 and 1750. Part 2, under review here, lists letters published between 1751 and 1980. The arrangement of entries in Part 2 is the same as in Part 1. First, the names of letter writers and receivers appear in alphabetical sequence along with rudimentary biographical information and sources in reference works. This initial section is followed by a more detailed one in which the names of the writers are arranged alphabetically; within each name their letters are listed chronologically, with reference to date, place, language (most are written in either Latin or German), and source document. Part 2 draws on a total of almost 1,200 sources (in comparison to 590 for Part 1). The letters in this set are listed under both the name of the writer and the receiver, creating more volume than perhaps necessary. An electronic version of this set would have been more useful, because it would have afforded better and easier searching capability. [sh/ba]

Die deutsche Kurzgeschichte der Gegenwart: Autorenporträts, Werkstattgespräche, Interpretationen [The Contemporary German Short Story: Author Portraits, Studio Talks, Interpretations]. Manfred Durzak. 3d expanded ed. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 2002. 563 p. 24 cm. ISBN 3-8260-2074-X: EUR 35.00 [02-2-312]

The first edition of this basic work was published by Reclam in 1980 and reprinted in 1983 in a second, unrevised edition. This third edition has been updated with a new chapter providing coverage to the 1990s. The structure of the work in three sections remains the same. The first section contains studio talks with Wolfgang Weyrauch, Stephan Hermlin, Wolfdietrich Schnurre, Hans Bender, Günter Kunert, and Gabriele Wohmann. The second section contains 18 chapters on a variety of authors ranging from Wolfgang Borchert to Alexander Kluge. The third section features essays on typology and form of the short story, using themes from texts available in the anthology Erzählte Zeit (Reclam 1999). The extensive bibliographies cover mostly general and overarching works, not specialized ones. The latter are listed as footnotes in the relevant chapters. In spite of this inconvenience and the small print size, this remains the most fundamental work covering the German short story after 1945. [hak/hsb]

Das Zeitgedicht der Weimarer Republik: mit einer Quellenbibliographie zur Lyrik im ersten Drittel des 20. Jahrhunderts (1900–1933) [Topical Verse in the Weimar Republic: With a Bibliography of Primary Sources for the Poetry of the First Third of the 20th Century (1900–1933)]. Ulrike Stadler-Altmann. Hildesheim: Olms-Weidmann, 2001. 859 p. 21 cm. (Germanistische Texte und Studien, 69). ISBN 3-487-11466-6: EUR 51.00 [02-2-313]

This book was originally presented as the author’s dissertation (University of Freiburg, 1998), and studies topical verse as a special genre of political verse, drawing on the works of 10 German-language authors: Rudolf Pannwitz, Rudolf Presber, Rudolf Paulsen, Hans Watzlik, Hermann Claudius, Johannes Lindner, Bruno Goetz, Ludwig Strauss, Julius Maria Becker, and Fritz Dittrich—all authors whose names are largely forgotten today. It is strange, by the way, that the author did not include a single woman among the poets she studied. The work is reviewed here solely because of its extensive second section (p. 261–859), which consists of a bibliography of primary sources on German lyric poetry between 1900 and 1933. This bibliography, compiled from a number of other reference works, lists 515 authors from the time period in question. Each entry begins with biographical data (name, birth and death dates, title, profession), followed by a bibliographical section listing (1) poems written between 1900 and 1933; (2) works in chronological order; (3) letters; (4) biographies; (5) bibliographies of works by and about the person; and (6) archives and personal papers. Sections 1–4 list only separately published items; sections 5 and 6 also list works that appeared within some larger publication.

The criterion for inclusion of an author was that he or she published a free-standing collection of poems within the timeframe 1900–1933, these being the works listed in section 1 of the person’s entry. (The appearance of a poem in a journal, in other words, did not qualify an author for inclusion.) Section 1 tends to be quite brief, in consequence, and is overshadowed by the list of works given in section 2. Besides the forgotten authors, many important ones met the criterion for inclusion, and so we find here Bertolt Brecht (406 items) and Hermann Hesse (614 items). Who would think to look for bibliographies of these two authors in a dissertation such as this? This bibliography is more a testament to the author’s diligence than to her perspicacity; it was hardly necessary to construct a bibliography of such dimensions in order to provide a scholarly basis for her dissertation. Much of her information is derived from familiar sources such as the Deutsches Literatur-Lexikon (Kosch). In the case of the latter work, it is disappointing to find that the present author consulted only those volumes published through 1979. More could surely have been expected in a dissertation published in 2001. [sh/crc]

Deutschsprachige Prosa im Dritten Reich (1933 bis 1945) [German Prose in the Third Reich]. Ed. Hans-Christoph Pleßke, Hans-Martin Pleßke. 2 vols. Stuttgart: Hiersemann. xi, 319, 311 p. 23 cm. ISBN 3-7772-0011-5: EUR 48.00 (vol. 1; Der Romanführer, 35), ISBN 3-7772-0101-4: EUR 48.00 (vol. 2; Der Romanführer, 36). [02-2-314]

The Romanführer, published since 1950, is a series of guides that attempt to provide objective summaries of novels of the world, with access to their content, motifs, and characters. A recent retrospective index covers all volumes to date (see RREA 8:91). The two volumes considered here include 400 works of prose, of which most were published in Germany between 1933 and 1945. Thirty-eight titles treated in earlier volumes were included on the basis of their “best-seller character,” with some entries simply replicated. There are odd omissions, including some in the sensitive area of writers close to the regime. Worse yet are some unfortunate summaries and the carryover of outdated and Nazi jargon, which diverges from the general neutrality of the series. Given the value of an inventory of novels produced in the Third Reich, a new and thoroughly revised edition should be undertaken. [ab/mm]

Die große illustrierte Bibliographie der Science-Fiction in der DDR [Comprehensive Illustrated Bibliography of Science Fiction in the GDR]. Ed. Hans-Peter Neumann. Berlin: Shayol-Verlag, 2002. 1,062 p. ill. 23 cm. ISBN 3-926126-11-6: EUR 60.00 [02-2-315]

Science-Fiction in der DDR: eigenständige Publikationen [Science Fiction in the GDR: Independent Publications]. Ed. Hans-Peter Neumann. Berlin: Shayol-Verlag, 2002. 86 p. 21 cm. (Supplementband zur “Großen illustrierten Bibliographie der Science-fiction in der DDR,” 1). ISBN 3-926126-12-4: EUR 8.80 [02-2-316]

Science-Fiction in der DDR: Bibliographie [Science Fiction in the GDR: Bibliography]. Ed. Olaf R. Spittel. Barnstorf: Verlag 28 Eichen, 2000. 236 p. 21 cm. (Books on Demand, Gutenbergring 53, D-22848 Norderstedt, e-mail: info@bod.de). ISBN 3-8311-0691-6: EUR 21.99 [02-2-317]

Parallel to the popularity of science fiction in the Federal Republic of Germany was a widespread SF reading frenzy in the German Democratic Republic. The first two works above, bibliography and supplement, form an impressive niche-filling set. Above all, the fact that the demise of the East German state established a closed historical era for the GDR made it possible for the editor to strive for comprehensiveness. While a similar bibliography of science fiction in West Germany covering the same time period, as well as for the Federal Republic now, would list English-language authors far and away in first place by sheer volume—ahead of German and all other crafters of science fiction combined—the GDR proportion of Russian SF writers was huge. Analysis of the indexes shows that the Russian contributions outnumber both British and American ones by more than double. The value of the supplemental volume listing independent publications is questionable; it represents only an extract from the main volume. Further supplements have been announced, such as “Results of a Systematic Review of Regional Newspapers and Foreign Periodicals.” This work from the small Shayol-Verlag (named after a fictional planet in a story by Cordwainer Smith) presents us with a definitive and admirable index. Minor additions and corrections, still ongoing, can be found at http://www.deutsche-sf.de.

The subtitle of the third work above should more exactly be called “Bibliography of First Editions.” With a few exceptions, nothing else is indexed. In the foreword, editor Spittel thanks Neumann, editor of the previously discussed works, for “giving him insight into the current situation of scholarship.” Knowing the scope of Neumann’s pending work, Spittel more properly would have dispensed with publishing his own. This title is unnecessary. [sh/rdh]

Rudolf Borchardt: Verzeichnis seiner Schriften [Rudolf Borchardt: Catalog of his Writings]. Ed. Ingrid Grüninger and Reinhard Tgahrt. München [et al.]: Edition Tenschert bei Hanser, 2002. 427 p. ill. 21 cm. (Gesammelte Briefe. Rudolf Borchardt; Suppl.). Also published as: Verzeichnisse, Berichte, Informationen (Deutsches Literaturarchiv, 28) and as Schriften der Rudolf-Borchardt-Gesellschaft, 8. ISBN 3-446-18033-8: EUR 54.00 [02-2-320]

The works of the German poet and historian Rudolf Borchardt (1877–1945) are listed in 819 informatively annotated entries (organized into 12 sections, including complete editions, selections, series, individual works, contributions to anthologies, and journals). The editors’ task was complicated by Borchardt’s having published in both German and Italian (he spent much of his life in Italy), as well as by the wide variety of publications in which his writings appeared (including newspapers and the idiosyncratic publications of numerous bibliophilic organizations).

There are four indexes: titles; title and first lines of poems; names; and magazines and newspapers. The typography is wonderfully user-friendly, and the varied illustrations are an invitation to browse. [hak/sl]

Brecht-Handbuch: in 5 Bänden [Brecht Handbook in 5 Volumes]. Ed. Jan Knopf. Stuttgart; Weimar: Metzler. 25 cm. ISBN 3-476-01828-8 (set) [02-2-322]

Vol. 1. Stücke [Plays]. 2001. xviii, 661 p. ISBN 3-476-01829-6: EUR 79.90, EUR 64.90 (subscription)
Vol. 2. Gedichte [Poems]. 2001. xiii, 497 p. ISBN 3-476-01830-X: EUR 79.90, EUR 64.90 (subscription)
Vol. 3. Prosa, Filme, Drehbücher [Prose, Films, Screenplays]. 2002. xii, 495 p. ISBN 3-476-01831-8: EUR 74.90, EUR 64.90 (subscription)

The volumes under review are the first three of a planned five-volume, fully reworked edition of an earlier two-volume edition by the same publisher. The new handbook is based largely on the results of work on the 30 volumes of the recently completed authoritative Berlin and Frankfurt edition of Brecht’s works.

The volumes are arranged by genre, as is the Berlin and Frankfurt edition, a laudable decision despite the few problems that arise from it. One of the strongest justifications for this arrangement is that Brecht himself agreed to this arrangement for an early edition of his works. The first volume treats—after several essays that discuss the subgenres of his dramatic works—his individual works in chronological order. In addition to relying on the new work edition as a basis, the essays rely on other textual sources, so that the Handbuch makes contributions to textual criticism. Not only this circumstance, but also the superbly prepared and arranged information, will make this work a basis for all future research. All articles—with small variations in thoroughness and organization—provide information on the work’s origin, sources, content, form, and critical and scholarly reception, and conclude with a bibliography of the latest critical publications.

The second volume treats Brecht’s lyrical works grouped by creative period, while the third handles his prose works, also in chronological order, as well as his films and scripts. The fourth volume will address his theoretical works; the fifth will contain a chronology, select bibliography, and an index to the entire work. [hak/dsa]

Theaterg’schichten: ein Führer durch Nestroys Stücke [Theater Stories: A Guide to Nestroy’s Plays]. Jürgen Hein and Claudia Meyer. Wien: Lehner, 2001. 352 p. ill. 21 cm. (Quodlibet, 3). ISBN 3-901749-21-7: EUR 25.30 [02-2-331]

The editors have compiled a chronological lexicon of Nestroy’s 87 theatrical works— magic performances, parodies, dramatic medlies, burlesques, and drama—including those for which the text has not been preserved. In the style of a “user-friendly guide to the theater,” it gives brief views into the action, characters, motivation, and themes, as well as further details that are not usually included in a brief guide. The work also provides a biographical sketch, selected bibliography, and illustrations of scenes. [sh/mjc]

Shakespeare-Handbuch: die Zeit, der Mensch, das Werk, die Nachwelt [Shakespeare Handbook: The Times, the Person, the Work, Posterity]. Ed. Ina Schabert. 4th ed. Stuttgart: Kröner, 2000. xxv, 955 p. ill. 18 cm. ISBN 3-520-38604-6: EUR 29.65 [02-1-078]

Since its first edition in 1972, this handbook has become a standard work for Shakespearean studies. This completely revised fourth edition, edited by the Shakespeare scholar Ina Schabert, is currently the most comprehensive German handbook on Shakespeare’s biography, works, and their reception. As was the case for the first edition, the majority of the contributors are from the University of Munich; unfortunately, essays from other prominent scholars, such Dieter Mehl from Bonn and Ulrich Suerbaum from Bochum, were not included. Contributions from various scholars comprise each of the four main sections: (1) background of Shakespeare’s times, (2) biography, (3) works, and (4) reception history. The appendix contains a comprehensive list of the main tools for Shakespeare scholarship, as well as lexica, bibliographies and reference works, a list of authors, a short names index, and an index of works.

In spite of the handbook’s attempt to be a summary of all current scholarship on Shakespeare, some shortcomings can be noted. Some of the contributions have not been updated to reflect current scholarship. For example, new aspects in gender studies and New Historicism are not referenced in some entries. On the other hand, most of the entries have been updated to reflect the current state of knowledge in Shakespearean studies. The handbook is useful mainly for scholars with considerable background knowledge. It provides a reliable overview of many areas of Shakespearean scholarship; however, it is not easy to use. This affordable work should be acquired by academic libraries with holdings in Shakespeare studies; it is less appropriate for more general academic libraries and public libraries. [sk/bwv]

Der Shakespeare-Führer [Shakespeare Guide]. Ulrich Suerbaum. Stuttgart: Reclam, 2001. 363 p. ill. 25 cm. ISBN 3-15-010485-8: EUR 24.90 [02-1-080]

This monograph is intended as a study guide for serious students and scholars of Shakespeare. Following a first chapter that offers an introduction to various facets of Shakespeare scholarship, the main body of the work presents each of the 38 dramas according to a similar outline: plot and characters, genesis, sources, text, and reception. In general, Suerbaum succeeds in accurately and succinctly summarizing the current state of scholarship regarding each work, as well as the facts and assumptions on which the scholarship is based. Indeed, the value of this book lies in the author’s skillful condensing of difficult subject matter, whereby he succeeds in communicating what is known about Shakespeare without concealing the unresolved questions that still remain, and without promoting one-sided judgments and viewpoints. One shortcoming is the insufficient treatment of the history of the editions of Shakespeare’s works. It would have been especially useful to offer critical annotations of the most important modern editions. The comprehensive bibliography gives a good selection of primary and secondary literature in both English and German, although it fails to include some noteworthy works of Shakespeare scholarship. Suerbaum’s somewhat traditional, but very solid work is recommended for academic libraries, particularly where scholars of literature might be interested in pursuing a German view of the great English poet, who exerted a considerable influence on German literature.

A reliable English-language guide to the huge body of Shakespeare literature is Shakespeare: A Bibliographical Guide (Oxford, 1991). Two related works previously reviewed in IFB are Shakespearian Bibliography and Textual Criticism (Signal Mountain, TN, 2000; see IFB 01-1-058) and The World Shakespeare Bibliography on CD-ROM (Cambridge, 1998; see IFB 99-1/4-204). [sk/akb]

Dictionnaire des lettres françaises [Dictionary of French Literature]. Published under the direction of Cardinal Georges Grente. Paris: Fayard; Librarie Générale Française. 19 cm. (Le livre de poche; Encyclopédies d’aujourd’hui; La pochotèque). [02-2-333]

Le XVIe siècle [The 16th Century]. Ed. Michel Simonin. 2001. xlii, 1,217 p. ISBN 2-253-05663-4: EUR 28.20

A new edition of the Dictionnaire des lettres françaises is nearing its conclusion, lacking only the volume for the 19th century (see RREA 2:122, RREA 3:139, and RREA 5:129 for reviews of previously issued volumes). The original edition consisted of five volumes published between 1939 and 1972, covering the Middle Ages through the 19th century, and was published under the direction of Cardinal Georges Grente, whose name still appears on the title page, long after his death. The current dictionary has been published in two editions, bound volumes offered at the regular price of EUR 65.00 and a paperback India paper edition in the series Le livre de poche for approximately EUR 30.00, so that it is within students’ means.

The revisions in the new edition are far-reaching, though not in all volumes to the same extent as in that for the Middle Ages. The volume about the 16th century begins with background about the original edition and a reprint of Pierre Champion’s introduction, dated 1939 and published in 1951. An index of contributors is included, with asterisks marking the names of the new contributors, and the approximately 2,400 articles include contributors’ initials. Often there are two sets of initials, from which one may conclude that an original article was revised.

A majority of the articles are devoted to authors, as opposed to individual works. Articles about works are limited to anonymous works. The articles range in length from a few lines to 40 columns. The medium-length and long articles lack clear organization and only occasionally include references from a work’s title to its author; the long articles address theoretical concepts, genres, and provenance. Corporate bodies such as academies and colleges are considered, and there are several long comparative articles about topics such as Boccaccio in 16th-century France or Italy and French Renaissance literature. These comparative articles include copious literary details. Lacking are a name index and references within the articles to other articles, a regrettable shortcoming shared by all the volumes. Despite its faults, this dictionary is without competition and belongs in every library that supports French studies. [sh/rm]

Dictionnaire de la littérature française: XXe siècle [Dictionary of French Literature: 20th Century]. Paris: Encyclopædia Universalis; Albin Michel, 2000. 894 p. 21 cm. (Les dictionnaires. Encyclopædia Universalis). ISBN 2-226-11459-9: EUR 25.92 [02-2-334]

This lexicon consists of relevant extracts from the Encyclopædia Universalis, as do other volumes from this publisher. The difficulty of establishing an exact literary beginning point for the 20th century is emphasized. In the end, cultural historical events such as the Commune, the rise of the avant-garde, the World’s Fair of 1900, and the First World War mark different strands of literary development. The 171 signed articles are, unfortunately, unevenly structured to a maddening degree. There is little rhyme or reason why exemplary and punctiliously outlined articles on Apollinaire and Sartre, for instance, rub shoulders with hybrid mixtures of commentary on another author’s life and works, such as that on Giraudoux. Only the longer articles provide organized bibliographic references. Beyond authors, coverage extends to literary periodicals, movements, genres, critics, and theories. Articles for francophone countries name the most important literary figures. This dictionary is suitable for a first orientation into the named aspects of 20th century French literature, but other lexica on the topic take precedence. [st & sh/rdh]

Dictionnaire des écrivains de langue française [Dictionary of French-Speaking Writers]. Jean-Pierre de Beaumarchais, Daniel Couty, and Alain Rey. 2 vols. Paris: Larousse, 2001. 2,253 p. 25 cm. ISBN 2-03-505198-3 (set): FF 525.03

The second edition (1994) of the Dictionnaire des littératures de langue française (DLLF) was reviewed in RREA 2:126. It has now been revised and updated to create this two-volume abridged edition. The aptly renamed set retains the extensive coverage of authors of the previous edition, while at the same time decreasing the numbers of entries and amount of scholarly apparatus, and reducing or eliminating articles devoted to themes or genres.

The alphabetical entries are followed by appendices of chronological lists of occupants of each chair in the Académie française and the Académie Goncourt. The winners of six important French prizes, and the French winners of the Nobel Prize in literature are also given. The title index found at the end of the second volume, which indexes 14,000 titles (a third fewer than earlier editions 21,500), provides an easy method of locating articles covering a particular work.

Authors are selected from the francophone world, which allows the encyclopedic dictionary to cover broad geographical, national, and stylistic ground. In part because of this choice, the DELF is able to include a large number of modern and contemporary authors—even more than in previous editions. It is interesting to note, however, that while the set concludes with a list of prize winners, not all of the laureates (especially those not of French origin—André Makine, Amin Maalouf, etc.) are given entries.

The three editors and over 200 authors, drawn from French and francophone universities, are considered experts in their fields. The chief editor, Jean-Pierre de Beaumarchais, also the editor of the “Classiques Garnier” theater series, and Daniel Couty are both at the Université de Rouen. Alain Rey, a lexicographer, has served as head of the Robert dictionaries. For this new edition, Pierre Lepape, of the Monde des livres, assisted them. With such editors, it is not surprising that the entries (all signed) are academic and scholarly.

This expertise is particularly notable in the approximately 100 “dossiers,” or “monographic essays,” detailing the lives and works of the great writers. They include not only biographic information, but also a timeline with reference points to the author’s work, his or her life, and world events. In addition, entries contain synopses and literary criticism of an author’s most famous works. While the general articles on authors are fairly comprehensive, the “dossiers” are extensive critical essays relating the authors to French literature and history.

For example, Rosa and Ubersfeld’s entry on Victor Hugo consists of 26 pages of a provocative biographical essay detailing his life, career, politics, and oeuvre. Each genre is given a separate section and explanation of how Hugo was influenced by the politics, society, and artistic milieus in which he moved. Summaries of important works created during this time are followed by a timeline that places vie and oeuvre in separate columns. The timeline includes events and facts excluded from the grand exposition of the critical essay.

Works better known for themselves (such as much medieval literature) than for their authors continue to be included in this edition. An example is the Charroi de Nîmes, which is briefly described in terms of theme and structure and placed in historical context. The DELF does retain a small fraction of the 430 valuable essays found in the original that cover currents and movements in literary history. In fact, some authors whose entries have been removed now have cross-references to thematic articles (e.g., readers looking for information on Symphorien Champier are now directed to “humanism”).

Sorely missed are the bibliographies that accompanied each entry in the previous editions (the Hugo bibliography extended for over three pages). These often contained not only pointers to important secondary literature (often difficult to locate easily, even using databases), but also to editions of the work and critical studies of a text. Also lacking is the index of literary terms, which referred researchers to entries where they were discussed. The illustrations (which were in color) have also been removed; however, these were never the focus of the volumes and the loss is not significant.

The DELF continues to be an excellent source of basic information on French authors, if not the entire French literary corpus. However, the abridged and revised dictionary is no longer a starting place for more serious research. While worth acquiring for the revisions and inclusion of additional contemporary authors, libraries owning a previous edition should retain those volumes on the reference shelf.

Dictionnaire analytique des oeuvres théâtrales françaises du XVIIe siècle [Analytical Dictionary of 17th-Century French Theatrical Works]. Ed. Marc Vuillermoz. Paris: Honoré Champion, 1998. 856 p. ill. 24 cm. (Dictionnaires et references.) ISBN 2-85203-919-2: FF 745.00

This dictionary is a detailed repertory of information on 166 selected 17th-century French plays. The works chosen for analysis here, from among over 1,000 plays published in France during that century, are those for which a modern critical edition was available in 1992. Marc Vuillermoz states in his introduction that he aspires to provide, with this dictionary and successive supplements, a concrete application of J. Scherer’s authoritative La Dramaturgie classique en France (Paris, 1950) and a modernization of H. C. Lancaster’s History of French Dramatic Literature in the Seventeenth Century (Baltimore, 1929–1942), annotated in R. Balay, ed. Guide to Reference Books (Chicago, 1996) #BE1181.

The rigid rules to which French theater was subjected in the 17th century allow for a systematic quantitative analysis, which is what this reference work, with its many schematic diagrams and charts, provides. Plays tended to be comedies, tragedies, or tragicomedies, to have a certain number of acts, and (at least ideally) to have all the action taking place in a single location and during a 24-hour (or shorter) period.

The entry for each play gives basic data (title, author, date of first publication or performance) followed by edition information. Next it indicates the genre of the play and any “interior genres” it contains (such as lengthy songs, letters in verse, etc.). The section on characters includes detailed schematic diagrams showing, by means of a complex system of lines and arrows, the relationships among them (who loves whom, who pretends to love whom, who is whose father, mother, adoptive brother, confidant, and so on). Next there is a table showing the appearances and roles of each character in each scene. Entries also analyze plot structure, giving a brief résumé of the plotline which would serve as a useful reference for anyone who wants a good overview of the action in a particular play. Next the locations and time are analyzed, including a count of the number of lines per scene. The entries are all signed; but there is no list of contributors, nor are their affiliations indicated.

Sometimes these sections are followed by “Remarques” fleshing out the information given in the diagrams and tables, and occasionally providing detailed literary and historical contexts for the plays. These remarks are particularly helpful, though often too brief, and provide contributors a chance to elaborate on the works beyond the entries’ rather restrictive structure.

The dictionary treats the works of not only well-known authors such as Racine, Corneille, and Molière, but of lesser-known playwrights such as Chappuzeau, Du Ryer, and Hauteroche. Approximately five pages are devoted to the entry for each play, but nine pages are required for a complicated plot such as Molière’s Amants magnifiques, mostly for the purpose of listing its plethora of nymphs, satyrs, and gods. In general, entries are long enough to give a basic idea of plot structure.

There are six indexes: characters; locations where the action takes place; how many breaks take place in the action (one of the “three unities” 17th-century playwrights tried to observe was the “unity of action”); the total length of action in the plays; and lists of titles and dates of first performance and first publication, and of authors. Since entries are in alphabetical order by title, the lack of page numbers in the title index does not present a problem for the user. The author list, however, also omits references to titles or page numbers, a feature that would have been useful to anyone trying to find all the plays by a particular author.

The greatest barrier to usability in this dictionary is probably the complicated nature of the diagrams; one often needs to refer to the Guide de Lecture to figure out all the schematics. Once one gets past the structuralist look of the entries, however, the dictionary does prove to be a handy reference work, its concise format lending itself to the quick looking up of facts.

There are no comparable dictionaries or encyclopedias of 17th-century French theater, though several dictionaries of 17th-century French literature in general exist, such as Françoise Jaouen’s Seventeenth-Century French Writers (Detroit, 2002) and Roger Zuber and Marc Fumaroli’s Dictionnaire de littérature française du XVIIe siècle (Paris, 2001).

The Dictionnaire analytique des oeuvres théâtrales françaises du XVIIe siècle, which, though now over four years old, is still in print, is probably worth the price (about $120) for any college or university library where there is a French literature program. It would probably be of the greatest value to students, but other researchers, particularly those needing a source of quantitative data on these plays, would find it useful as well. Even those with a reading knowledge of French and only a casual interest in the subject matter may find that the plot summaries provide a good (and sometimes amusing) overview of the “golden age” of French drama.

Marcel Proust und Deutschland: eine internationale Bibliographie [Marcel Proust and Germany: An International Bibliography]. George Pistorius and Marie Pistorius. 2d expanded, rev., and newly formatted ed. Heidelberg: Winter, 2002. 424 p. 28 cm. (Studia romanica, 109). ISBN 3-8253-1074-4: EUR 68.00 [02-2-335]

For a reference work, this one has an unusually captivating narrative style. It is almost more of a reception history than a traditional bibliography. In five main chapters— on German editions, German literature about Proust, Proust in Germany, textual problems in Proust, and miscellany—and a number of supplements, Proust research to date is bibliographically described, with thorough commentaries about some works. There are some excesses in the topical arrangement and the typographical distinctions, leading to problems when the book is consulted as a reference work. For example, there is no good reason to treat “Supplements 1922–1999” (22 pages) separately from the full bibliography. The number of indexes (14 for the main section and 11 more for the supplements!) should have been reduced, and certainly the name index should have included all authors, editors, etc., and not just the people mentioned in articles. The citations are also inconsistent and diverge from standard bibliographic practices. A discussion of Benjamin’s letters on Proust in chapter 3, for example, contains numerous detailed references to an incomplete and long since superseded edition of Benjamin’s correspondence. Nonetheless, this completely revised work, appearing 20 years after its first edition, remains an immense accomplishment that belongs in every library. [mb/mm]

Literatura erótica en España: repertorio de obras 1519–1936 [Erotic Literature in Spain: Catalog of Works 1519–1936]. Comp. José Antonio Cerezo. Madrid: Ollero y Ramos, 2001. 390 p. 24 cm. ISBN 84-7895-169-5: EUR 38.00

Despite the historically religious character of printing in Spain, a rich and extensive body of printed erotica has been produced there since the 16th century. Only a handful of catalogs, bibliographies or studies of Spanish erotica exist, however. José Antonio Cerezo contends that while dozens of works on erotica have been produced in other European countries, a sort of auto-censorship impeded this type of work in Spain over the years. A poor tradition of bibliographic control there compounded the problem, and has made research extremely difficult.

Cerezo, who has published several bibliographical studies of European and Spanish erotica, gives a thorough overview of the history of Spanish erotica and the problems surrounding its study. He begins this catalog in 1519, when Cancionero de obras de burlas provocantes a risa was published, asserting that it was the first book to list only erotica in Spain. He chose to end his compilation in 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War and 40 years of Franco’s dictatorship, during which nothing was published on the subject.

Cerezo’s earlier bibliography on the subject, Bibliotheca erotica, sive, Apparatus ad catalogum librorum eroticorum, ad usum privatum tantum (Madrid, 1993; see RREO AK-95-1-017) was broader in scope. A secondary bibliography about Spanish erotica, it covered titles published throughout Europe and the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries—but contained only 684 entries. It was unwieldy, unfocused and lacked a clear methodology. Rather than a division by sections, it relied on indexes by material type (bibliographies, bibliographies of bibliographies, anthologies, monographs, etc.).

Literatura erótica en España complements and improves on Cerezo’s earlier work in several ways. He has wisely chosen to limit his primary bibliography to erotica printed in Spain. The scope of his study is clearly defined and based on well-documented historical intervals. In total, 815 titles are listed, most enriched by notes and lengthy commentaries. In his section on methodology, he precisely describes the fields of information he collected for each entry. This is a well-organized and more focused work: it contains an informative introduction and a clearly numbered and printed catalog of titles. Appendices of works on sexology and erotic short novels are included, as well as lists of bibliographies and other sources. There are indexes by author, pseudonym, title, first line, royal publishers and printers, and false or imaginary printers.

However, the author has included too much information in his desire to be thorough. The works in a number of entries have apparently not been examined or even seen, and are listed as NL (no location). The origin of many of these citations is unclear; a few are borrowed from other catalogs or indexes, such as Camilo José Cela’s Diccionario secreto (Madrid, 1979). The inclusion of Spanish translations of French and German titles is arguably superfluous to this work.

This volume is useful for the historical analysis and context it provides about Spanish erotica. The author clearly knows his subject well, and is familiar with other work in the field, both in Spain and elsewhere. But his use of unconfirmed information undermines the reliability of this work as a reference tool for the serious researcher or bibliophile. In spite of this, it will be of interest to rare book libraries and collectors, because so little else exists in the field.

Diccionario de la Comedia del Siglo de Oro [Dictionary of Golden Age Theater]. Ed. Frank P. Casa, Luciano García Lorenzo, and Germán Vega García-Luengos. Madrid: Editorial Castalia, S.A., 2002. xxi, 429 p. ill. 24 cm. ISBN 84-9740-033-X: $27.00

As the editors state in their preface, this book had a long gestation period. The project was first conceived in 1994, but it took eight years to bring it to publication. In this case, however, the time and planning have not been wasted. This is obviously a reference work where as much real thought has gone into its organization as has gone into the quality of the articles themselves.

Not only is a there a complete list of all contributors at the beginning of the volume, but each article is then signed, and the academic affiliation of the author is given. This list is followed by what the editors—accurately but not terribly succinctly—call “[A] Scheme for Reading the Dictionary as a Treatise on Theater.” What this “scheme” consists of is a reorganization of all 169 entries under various thematic headings, such as “Origin and Development,” “The Texts,” “Sources and Themes,” and “Reception and Study.” Under each of these headings is an alphabetical list of the articles that have some relation to that particular theme. This allows users of the dictionary to see very quickly what might be most helpful to their particular research topic without having to bother with the alphabetical organization of the dictionary as a whole. By following these thematic groupings, a reader can use the book not only as a “dictionary,” but also as a work of theatrical history.

The articles include a few references, which are coded by author and date. These then correspond to the complete bibliography following the dictionary proper. At 34 pages in length, the bibliography is in itself a useful introduction to the subject. It is followed by an even more extensive analytic index which includes not only plays, people, and concepts, but where applicable breaks these down even further for greater clarity and ease of use. For example, under the heading of “Novela,” there are eight different types of novelas mentioned, including sentimental, fronteriza [frontier], and pastoril, each with its own references.

The articles themselves are usually a page or two in length, and run the gamut of subject matter from the obvious, such as the various types of drama of the period or the concepts of marriage, humor, and the Baroque within the context of Golden Age theater, to the more arcane (“Jácara,” “Neoplatonismo,” and “Parateatro,” for example), making it useful both for the general student fluent in Spanish who needs basic information about the characteristics of Golden Age theater, as well as for the more comprehensive investigations of the specialist.

Although individual Golden Age dramatists appear extensively in the index, there are no articles devoted entirely to them, with the exception of the entry on “Dramaturgas” [Women Dramatists], which includes brief entries on the dozen or so known women dramatists of the period. This exclusion makes this volume an excellent complement to either Héctor Urzáis Tortajada’s Cátalogo de autores teatrales del siglo XVII (Madrid, 2002), annotated in the WESS Newsletter, Spring 2003, Vol. 26, no. 2 (http://www.lib.virginia.edu/wess/nl/spring03/index.html) or, even better, Mary Parker’s Spanish Dramatists of the Golden Age: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook (Westport, 1998). As its title suggests, Ms. Parker’s work consists entirely of fairly lengthy biographical sketches of the most important dramatists of the period, with bibliographies of works both by and about the authors under consideration. Since Dr. Casa, one of the editors of the new dictionary, contributed an article to Ms. Parker’s work, he must have been aware of the relationship of the two reference books, and rather than trying to redo her excellent work, he (and his fellow editors) have instead chosen to take a different path and by so doing have made a lasting contribution to the reference literature in this area of study. This title is recommended for collections supporting the study of Spanish literature.

La Novela semanal [The Weekly Novel]. José Marie Fernández Gutiérrez. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2000. 209 p. 22 cm. + 1 computer optical disc (4 3/4 in.) System requirements for accompanying computer disc: IBM PC or compatible; Windows 95; 800x600 monitor (minimum); CD-ROM drive. (Colección Literatura Breve, 5). ISBN 84-00-07991-4: EUR 20.22

La Novela semanal is one of a series of volumes in the collection Literatura breve, meant to be a “catalog of catalogs” that would provide bibliographic information about popular publishing initiatives in pre-Civil War Spain. When completed, the series will include 19 volumes, each one with a related CD-ROM, that index series such as La Novela semanal, El Cuento semanal, El Libro popular, La Novela de bosillo and La Novela del sábado. These were all “novelas de quiosco,” small, inexpensive paperbacks sold at newsstands, bookstores, and directly from the publisher Prensa Gráfica. Other series included short stories and theatrical works.

According to the author, José María Fernández, the appearance of El Cuento semanal in 1907 initiated the spread of literature across socioeconomic boundaries in Spain. The first novel produced in the series La Novela semanal, Vicente Blasco Ibáñez’s Puesta del sol in 1921, cost 25 cents. The last, Jacinto Octavio Picón’s Rivales, was published in 1925. A few of the series survived the Spanish Civil War and continued to be published until the 1940s and 1950s. The works themselves ranged from popular editions of serious fiction to melodrama, intrigue, and even those classified as erotica. In his prologue, Fernández cites and critiques attempts at classifying these novels and their authors. He argues that such attempts, as well as the history of these series, suffer from a serious lack of critical attention. This series of indexes is intended to facilitate the analysis of these books, and La Novela semanal includes a short selected bibliography of existing studies.

The print edition of La Novela semanal consists of a record for each of the 233 novels published in the series. The records are listed in chronological order, or rather, in order of their numbered location in the series. Each record begins with an author, title, date, and series number; for example, from the first record: Vicente Blasco Ibáñez: Puesta de sol, 25 de junio de 1921, núm.1. The rest of the record consists of named fields: the structure of the novel (the number of chapters, their page numbers, and the number of illustrations they contain), a list of characters, the setting, the conflict, theme (e.g., regusto romántico trasnochado, perhaps best translated as “the morning after the romantic night before”), atmosphere (e.g., “wealth and luxury”), location, and plot. While La Novela semanal itself includes a few reproductions of advertisements included in the books in the series, no information about the ads appears in the records. There is also no index to the records in the book, and thus the only means of access to the entry for a specific book in the series is in fact knowing its series number.

La Novela semanal comes with a CD-ROM, which installed itself without any difficulties. It appears on the Windows Programs list as CSIC-LITI Buscalibros, a title not mentioned or explained anywhere in the book (it refers to the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas and the Laboratorio de Innovación en Tecnologías de la Información of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, the creators of the software). The introduction to the book says that this search engine needs to be loaded only once since each CD-ROM being produced in Colección literatura breve runs on the same software.

The Buscalibros search engine serves as an index to the entries in the book. The records that appear as search results do not repeat the information in the book’s entries. For example, the CD-ROM record for Blasco Ibáñez’s Puesta del sol can be found by searching by author, title, collection, collection number, or illustrator. These are each available as drop-down menus that appear in the first window. There is no way for the user to type in a name or title.

When the record for Puesta del sol appears, we are given some descriptive information that does not appear in the printed record, particularly the name of the illustrator, and a brief description of an introduction to the series at the beginning of the book that is addressed “al público.” Another record chosen at random, for Rufino Blanco Fombona’s Críspulo y su enamorada, mentions that the book includes an announcement of the book title due to appear the following week. At the same time, considerable information in the printed record does not appear in the CD-ROM version: no plot summary, no list of characters, etc. Since it does provide the number of this particular title in the series, the reader must then return to the book—to entry number 151 in this case—to discover that this is a psychological novel about the search for peace and happiness.

The book and the CD-ROM thus function best when used together. There is no discussion anywhere in the prologue to the book about the decision not to include indexes of author names or book titles in the print version, or the decision to provide only partial records in the CD-ROM version, or why the name of the illustrator appears only in the CD-ROM version. It is also annoying that the CD-ROM, once open on the computer screen, does not get its own tab at the bottom of the Windows screen. Thus users must minimize all other open windows each time they turn away from their word processor or their library’s online catalog in order to find the Buscalibros.

The intent of the series Colección literatura breve is a worthy one: to provide access to information about an important phenomenon of Spanish publishing history. Unfortunately odd decisions were made about format. A book with author and titles indexes, or a CD-ROM with complete records about each novel, would in fact have been more usable. It appears the CD-ROM is intended to provide a mechanism for searching across the proposed 19 volumes in the series, but at the cost of easy use of any one volume.

Mulheres que escreveram teatro no século XX em Portugal [Women Who Wrote for the Theater in 20th-Century Portugal]. Eugénia Vasques. Lisboa: Colibri, 2001. 200 p. 23 cm. ISBN 972-772-275-X: $14.88

Students of the history of the modern Portuguese theater will welcome the appearance of Eugénia Vasques’ Mulheres que escreveram teatro no século XX em Portugal. This concise text outlines, as its title implies, the role of women playwrights in the history of 20th-century Portuguese theater. Vasques writes clearly and has an in-depth knowledge of the field.

With her narrative flowing easily from one period to another, Vasques devotes the first four chapters of the work to a history of the Portuguese theater with emphasis on the role of feminism. She makes great efforts to highlight the important terms, movements, or personages necessary to assist the reader in comprehending the theatrical history and its social setting, and in understanding her central theme. In some instances, these highlights are presented as if this work were a dictionary, while other terms are meant to stand out for quick reference when the text is quickly scanned. This inconsistency hardly detracts from the historical commentary as a whole. Of added interest are Vasques’ “cycles,” or periods which structure her text in a brief reference format. Her first cycle, covering 1900–1929, for example, starts with the beginning of the century and gives the historical setting of the earliest appearance in the theater of what she calls feminism.

Chapter five is a short bibliography, which serves as an excellent starting point for further research on the topic and lists many of the standard and specialized texts within the field.

While researchers may debate the true value of Vasques’ narrative, one cannot doubt the importance of the sixth, and final, chapter, which chronologically lists plays written by women for the Portuguese theater. The comprehensive tabular chronology is divided first by year then alphabetically by author within the year. Arranged by “cycle,” each entry in chapter six is divided into three columns: author, title, and other available information about a particular play’s production and publication, such as cast, awards, place of performance, and publication data. Abbreviations at the beginning of the section are concise and easy to follow, and the closing index of names makes finding a playwright easy.

While Vasques presents an excellent resource for the study of Portuguese theater history, this work would be suitable solely for a large academic library or specialized theatrical library. An understanding of Portuguese is essential for the narrative, although the chronology can be used without knowledge of the language. Though difficult to recommend for most general reference collections, this work is worthy of any academic library setting. If Vasques’ work were to appear in translation, more scholars would appreciate its research value.

Klubs der russischen Dichter in Berlin 1920–1941: Institutionen des literarischen Lebens im Exil [Russian Writers’ Clubs in Berlin, 1920–1941: Institutions of Literary Life in Exile]. Amory Burchard. München: Sagner, 2001. 349 p. 21 cm. (Arbeiten und Texte zur Slavistik, 69). ISBN 3-87690-759-4: EUR 29.65 [02-1-081]

Research on Soviet Russian emigration has increased significantly since the fall of the USSR. In the Soviet Union these exiled/expelled writers were ignored or slandered. Research, teaching, and the press abroad followed the Soviet schema, talking only about “Soviet literature.” Among the most important recent works is John Glad’s Russia Abroad (1999). The volume under review here combines a descriptive narrative with a detailed table of contents and subject and personal-name indexes, which boosts its value as a reference work. It discusses literary clubs, literary circles, writers’ and journalists’ associations, publishers, important newspapers, and anthologies. While the book builds on Thomas R. Beyer’s Russische Autoren und Verlage in Berlin nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg [Russian Authors and Publishing Houses in Berlin After the First World War] (Berlin, 1987), it also offers a lot of new research on this period. It is important not only for scholars of literature and for historians interested in Russia, but also for those desiring a better understanding of German-Russian relations past and present. [wk/ga]

Literaturnye manifesty: ot simvolizma do nashikh dnei [Literary Manifestos: From Symbolism To Our Day]. Ed. S. B. Dzhimbinov. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo Dom XXI Vek–Soglasie, 2000. 606 p. 17 cm. (Biblioteka russkoi kul’tury). ISBN 5-293-00021-7: EUR 45.00 [02-1-081a]

The Moscow scholar Stanislav Dzhimbinov has published a commendable reference work and sourcebook. It combines the manifestos of the numerous 20th-century Russian literary groupings with essays and programmatic poems from their members. They begin with such well-known turn-of-the-century movements as Symbolism, Acmeism, Futurism, and Imaginism. These four movements receive detailed treatment and take up about half the book’s space. The rest of the book is devoted to extremely small groups, such as Expressionism (which had almost no adherents in Russia), and native-grown movements such as “Biokosmism,” “Luminism,” and “Form-Librism.” Between 1932 and 1958 there were no sanctioned literary associations outside the Union of Soviet Writers, although the book does cover a few underground groups that formed during the “thaw” of ca. 1956–1965. The last group to be included is the “Order of the Courtois Mannerists,” founded in 1988 in Moscow.

A foreword, a briefly annotated index of sources, and a personal name index enhance the work’s utility for the scholar. It would have helped to include an alphabetical index of the literary associations. Dzhimbinov also includes some documents, such as the odious 1932 Party decree that literature should embody the spongy idea of “socialist realism.” Unfortunately, the countless literary groupings of the emigration are not included, but they are necessary for a more complete picture of Russian literature in the 20th century.

This new handbook is much more useful than most recently published dictionaries of 20th-century Russian literature (see a short bibliography in the IFB review), which contain no topical articles. It belongs in every university library, especially in Slavic collections. Given that it was published in a run of 3,000 copies, it may even be possible to obtain it. [wk/ga]

Bibliographie slawistischer Veröffentlichungen aus Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz 1983/92 [Bibliography of Slavic Studies Publications from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, 1983–92]. Ed. Wolfgang Gladrow, Karl Gutschmidt, and Klaus Dieter Seemann. München: Sagner, 2002. xxiii, 788 p. 25 cm. (Sagners slavistische Sammlung, 27). ISBN 3-87690-821-3: EUR 80.00 [02-2-336]

This bibliography continues as one series two former Slavic-philology bibliographic series from East and West Germany: Materialien zu einer slavistischen Bibliographie: Arbeiten der in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Österreich und der deutschsprachigen Schweiz tätigen Slavisten [Materials for a Bibliography of Slavic Studies: Works by Slavicists from the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and German-Speaking Switzerland] (München, 1963–1983; for the years 1945–1983) and Bibliographie slawistischer Veröffentlichungen aus der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik [Bibliography of Slavic Studies Publications from the German Democratic Republic] (Berlin, 1968–1989; for the years 1946–1986).

The selection criteria are those from the former GDR bibliography. The emphasis is on works in Slavic studies published in the three countries, and not just on writings by Slavists. Selections include monographs and essays in scholarly journals, anthologies, and Festschriften, as well as the introductory and concluding critical essays in German translations of Slavic-language belles-lettres. The spelling of slavistic with a w follows the East German convention, perhaps because two of the three editors are from universities in the former East Germany. The earlier West German bibliography appeared within one year of the most recent works indexed, and one hopes that this schedule will be the norm, with the volume for 1993–2002 appearing soon in print.

The issue under review here contains 9,188 titles published between 1983 and 1992. The East German pattern of organization is used and does not facilitate easy reference. The personal-name index lists the works only by compiler or editor, not by the author as subject. To look for publications about, e.g., Tolstoy or Solzhenitsyn, one must painstakingly scan the subject index. And the indexing of editors, compilers, contributors, and others is not consistent or complete. Topical subject headings are limited to the very general (e.g., South Slavic Literature), and headwords are not repeated across pages. The forward contains the reasons for the particular organization features, but few users ever read a foreword when what they are seeking is specific pieces of information.

By limiting the sources to professional journals, this bibliography regrettably excludes several excellent literary magazines, such as the general literary journal Zeitwende, which often contains essays on Russian literature, and the Russian émigré journals Grani and Kontinent, which contain valuable primary and secondary Russian literary writings from outside Russia. Also not included are some appropriate social science journals, such as Sowjetunion (and its post-1991 successor, the yearbook of the German Federal Institute for Eastern European and International Studies), although Osteuropa is covered. The German Dostoyevsky Society’s yearbook is not included, perhaps because of a technical oversight. Understandably, works from newspapers are not included, as is the convention among scholarly bibliographies.

Despite these significant shortcomings, this bibliography and its predecessors belong in every university and research library because of their extensive coverage of the field. One hopes that subsequent volumes will correct these shortcomings.

For similar bibliographies, see:

Bibliographie der russischen Autoren und anonymen Werke [Bibliography of Works by Russian Authors and of Anonymous Works]. Ed. Günther Wytrzens. Frankfurt: Klostermann, 1975, 1982.

Bibliographie der slavistischen Arbeiten aus den deutschsprachigen Fachzeitschriften [Bibliography of Slavic Studies Publications in German-Language Journals]. Ed. Klaus-Dieter Seemann and Frank Siegmann. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1965. This work covers 1876–1963; it is continued by the slightly different title: Bibliographie slavistischer Arbeiten aus deutschsprachigen Fachzeitschriften. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1976. [wk/ga]

Wolfgang Kasack: vollständiges Verzeichnis der Veröffentlichungen [Wolfgang Kasack: Complete Index to His Publications]. Ed. Frank Göbler. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 2002. 176 p. ill. 21 cm. (Deutsch-russische Literaturbeziehungen, 12). ISBN 3-631-50436-5: EUR 35.30 [02-2-338]

A review copy of this bibliography of the works of Wolfgang Kasack appeared on the IFB editor’s desk only a few days after Professor Kasack’s death on January 10, 2003, just short of his 76th birthday. The substantives given in the headlines of two newspaper obituaries—”Interpreter” and “Ahead of the Canon”—are key themes in and of his life and work. Wolfgang Kasack was a leader in translating Russian literature into German and was also an advocate for including émigré Soviet writers in the literary canon. He learned Russian while a German prisoner-of-war in the Soviet Union. From 1956–1960 he was the chief interpreter at the German embassy in Moscow, from 1960–1968 director of Soviet exchanges for the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Council), and from 1969, Professor of Slavic Languages at the University of Cologne until his retirement in 1992.

Kasack is perhaps best known for his Lexikon der russischen Literatur ab 1917 (Stuttgart, 1976). This very successful work appeared in English as Dictionary of Russian Literature since 1917 (New York, 1988) and was also translated into Russian and other Slavic languages. The revised second edition appeared in 1992 as Lexikon der russischen Literatur des 20. Jahrhunderts: vom Beginn des Jahrhunderts bis zum Ende der Sowjetära [Dictionary of 20th-Century Russian Literature: From the Beginning of the Century to the End of the Soviet Era] (München, 1992), followed by an 87-page bio-bibliographical supplement that was published in 2000 (see RREA 6:145).

Kasack challenged the official Soviet literary canon by including in his dictionary not only the Soviet-sanctioned conformist writers, but also those from the several emigration waves and those in Russia who were officially forbidden, maligned, exiled, or murdered. His sole criterion was that their works be of aesthetic and literary value. As well, he translated authors of the Russian exile and wrote or promoted critical studies of their life and work.

The compilation under review supersedes the bibliographic Festschrift: Wolfgang Kasack: Bücher, Aufsätze, Rezensionen; vollständige Bibliographie 1952–1987 anläßlich des sechzigsten Geburtstages [Wolfgang Kasack: Books, Essays, Reviews: Complete Bibliography 1952–1987 on the Occasion of his Sixtieth Birthday] (München, 1987).

This new work was scheduled to appear in January 2002 as a Festschrift for his 75th birthday but was delayed until November. The editor, Frank Göbler, one of Kasack’s students, wrote the introduction and other comments. Kasack himself compiled almost the entire bibliography of 1,026 titles, making this work an autobibliography.

Wolfgang Kasack wrote some 84 reviews for Informationsmittel für Bibliotheken since 1996, and his reviews have been a part of Reference Reviews Europe since 1998. Through his excellent relations with Russian scholars, he brought many Russian literary reference works to the attention of the scholarly world outside Russia, long before they reached the foreign book trade. In November and December 2002, Kasack continued to produce reviews for IFB. The journal has lost a most prominent and valued colleague. [sh/ga]

Literaturnye tsentry russkogo zarubezh’ia 1918–1939: pisateli, tvorcheskie ob’’edineniia, periodika, knigopechatanie [Literary Centers of the Russian Emigration, 1918–1939: Writers, Artistic Societies, Periodicals, Book Publishing]. Bronislaw Kodzis. München: Sagner, 2002. 318 p. 21 cm. (Arbeiten und Texte zur Slavistik, 70). ISBN 3-87690-760-8: EUR 32.00 [02-2-340]

Das Rußland zwischen den Zeilen: die russische Emigrantenpresse im Frankreich der 1920er Jahre und ihre Bedeutung für die Genese der “Zarubezhnaia Rossiia” [Russia between the Lines: The Russian Émigré Press in France in the 1920s and Its Significance for the Genesis of the “Russian Emigration”]. Claudia Weiss. Hamburg: Dölling und Galitz, 2000. 312 p. ill. 24 cm. (Hamburger Veröffentlichungen zur Geschichte Mittel- und Osteuropas, 7). ISBN 3-933374-59-6. Euro 34.80 [02-2-341]

Bronislaw Kodzis, a leading Polish specialist on the Russian Emigration, describes 12 important literary centers of the Russian literary emigration, ranging from Berlin, Prague, the Balkans, and the Baltic region, to the Far East. He includes literary associations, literary journals and almanacs, important newspapers in this field, and, in some cases (e.g., Prague), scholarly institutions. Because of its broad construction and its carefully compiled index, this book is easy to use as a reference work. It serves as a useful supplement to other important recent works on the Russian emigration, including:

Russkaia literatura v izgnanii: Kratkii biograficheskii slovar' russkogo zarubezh'ia [Russian Literature in Exile: Concise Biographical Dictionary of the Russian Emigration]. Ed. Gleb Struve. 3d rev. and expanded ed. R. I. Vil'danova [et al.]. Paris: YMCA-Press; Moskva: Russkii Put', 1996 (see IFB 97-3/4-343)

Das russische Theater in Berlin: 1919-1931 [Russian Theater in Berlin, 1919-1931]. Ed. Michaela Böhmig. München: Sagner, 1990

Der große Exodus: die russische Emigration und ihre Zentren 1917 bis 1941 [The Great Exodus: The Russian Emigration and Its Centers, 1917 to 1941]. Ed. Karl Schlögel. München: Beck, 1994 (see IFB 99-1/4-462)

Russische Emigration in Deutschland 1918-1941: Leben im europäischen Bürgerkrieg [The Russian Emigration in Germany 1918-1941: Life in the European Civil War]. Ed. Karl Schlögel. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1995 (see IFB 99-1/4-463)

Chronik russischen Lebens in Deutschland 1918-1941 [Chronicle of Russian Life in Germany, 1918-1941]. Ed. Karl Schlögel [et al.]. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1999 (see IFB 99-1/4-464)

Russkoe zarubezh’e: khronika nauchnoi, kul’turnoi i obshchestvennoi zhizni; 1920-1975, Frantsiia [The Russian Emigration: Chronicle of Scholarly, Cultural, and Social Life: 1920-1975, France]. Ed. L.A. Mnukhin. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1995-2000

Russkoe zarubezh’e: zolotaia kniga emigratsii; pervaia tret’ XX veka; entsiklopedicheskii biograficheskii slovar’ = Russia Abroad [The Russian Emigration: The Gold Book of the Emigration of the First Third of the 20th Century; Encyclopedic Biographical Dictionary]. V.V. Shelokhaev. Moskva: RossPEN, 1997 (see IFB 99-B09-730)

Russkie v Anglii: russkaia emigratsiia v kontekste russko-angliiskikh literaturnych sviazei v pervoi polovine XX veka [Russians in England: The Russian Emigration in the Context of Anglo-Russian Literary Unions in the First Half of the 20th Century]. Ed. O. A. Kaznina. Moskva: Nasledie, 1997

Literaturnaia entsiklopediia russkogo zarubezh’ia 1918-1940 = Encyclopaedia of the [sic] Russian Émigré Literature, 1918-1940. Ed. A. N. Nikoliukin. 2 vols. Moskva: RossPen, 1997-2000 (see RREA 7:126)

Russia Abroad: Writers, History, Politics. John Glad; foreword Victor Terras. Tenafly, NJ: Hermitage Publishers & Birchbark Press, 1999 (see IFB 99-1/4-215)

Klubs der russischen Dichter in Berlin 1920-1941: Institutionen des literarischen Lebens im Exil [Russian Poets‘ Clubs in Berlin, 1920-1941: Institutions of Literary Life in Exile]. Amory Burchard. München: Sagner, 2001 (see RREA 8:139)

Kodzis’ subject index covers literary and cultural associations, book publishers, periodical editions, collections, almanacs, and anthologies. For most of the periodical titles, associations, and organizations he gives the years of their existence and the names of their leading members. Of all the publications considered here (see list above), his work offers the most information about publishing houses. The personal-name index contains some 1,800 emigrants, while Schlögel’s work has around 1,000; each offers significant unique coverage. Struve covers 450 personal names, Glad some 2,500. Nikoliukin’s work is more specialized, covering 260 writers and other intellectuals in greater detail than the others. Claudia Weiss’s dissertation is an important supplemental work.

Kodzis’ and Schlögel’s works complement each other. Schlögel offers more information in some areas (e.g., Italy and the United States) and Kodzis in other (e.g., Lithuania), and Kodzis occasionally refers to Schlögel, whose edition is less useful because it lacks a subject index, as do most of the works cited here. Ol’ga Kaznina’s book also lacks a name index. John Glad’s book contains about one -third the information that Kodzis’s book contains, although Glad’s book has an extensive personal-name index and a list of the centers in the table of contents. The new, third, edition of Gleb Stuve’s literary history has the best index of the Emigration’s journals. The Moscow Literaturnaia entsiklopediia russkogo zarubezh’ia offers articles about the associations of Russian writers and journalists in Paris, Prague, and Yugoslavia.

Claudia Weiss’s work about the Russian émigré press in France in the 1920s is based on her dissertation (Hamburg University). It is an excellent depiction of publishing activity and émigré life in France, but it is of limited use as a reference work. It offers an index of 195 Russian émigré periodicals in France in the 1920s. Her newspaper and journal index does not provide any sources of more information about these publications than does Struve’s work. Weiss’s bibliography is extensive, but it does not include some of the works reviewed here, and there is some inconsistency between including titles either in footnotes or in the bibliography. It would have been helpful to include an index of important authors who contributed to these books, journals, and newspapers.

These two new works are essential supplements to the dictionaries and handbooks listed below, although Weiss’s book should have been organized to be more useful as a reference work, to which purpose it is better suited than for cover-to-cover reading. All of the works on the Russian Emigration reviewed here complement one another. They all belong in every larger library, all the more so because only since the end of the Soviet Union has this subject been investigated systematically. [wk/ga]

Letteratura latina medievale: (secoli VI–XV); un manuale [Medieval Latin Literature (6th–15th Centuries): A Manual]. Ed. Claudio Leonardi. Tavarnuzze: SISMEL Edizioni del Galluzzo, 2002. xii, 512 p. 25 cm. (Millennio medievale, 31: Strumenti, 2). ISBN 88-8450-098-2: EUR 75.00 [02-2-344]

This is the first history of the Latin literature of the whole Middle Ages, and it is valuable not only for literary scholars, but also for others interested in cultural history. A collaboration of six scholars, the volume is divided into 10 chapters, each treating a given century. Necessarily selective, the chapters range in size from 14 pages (the 6th century) to 84 (the 9th century), and stress the most important and most representative authors, while including lesser known, prolific authors as well. The emphasis in the 14th and 15th centuries is on the literary production of Italy, notably that of Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. Each chapter has references to primary and secondary literature. The handbook has also been published in three separate paperbound editions, divided by century: 6th to 9th, 10th to 12th, and 13th to 15th. [ch/mrh]

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