Auerbach

Anja Oosterhelt, ‘Neue Heimat America: Briefe deutscher Ausgewanderten im 19. Jahrhundert. Mit Überlegungen zum literarischen Auswandererbrief bei Berthold Auerbach’, The Germanic Review, 96 (2021), 293–312, uses both authentic and fictional letters from 19th-century emigrés to explore the semantics of Heimat and representations of migration, making explicit the links with German Realism, which frequently deploys the trope of the emigrant writing home.

Börne

Stéphanie Roza, ‘La Révolution française et la gauche allemande dans le premier XIX siècle: les cas de Ludwig Börne et Bruno Bauer’, Astérion, 24 (2021), http://doi.org/10.4000/asterion.5789, investigates the contrasting responses of key Vormärz thinkers as they reflect on the significance of the French Revolution for their own political reality, placing Börne in the role of Jacobin and emphasizing Bauer’s Young Hegelian stance.

Büchner

Heinz Härtl, ‘Im Himmel donnern helfen: Stationen einer Wanderanekdote bei Pfeffel, Büchner und anderen’, Acta Universitatis Carolinae. Philologica, 3 (2020), 73–97, explores the role of the ‘Wanderanekdote’ as a means of social criticism with reference to Büchner’s Woyzeck.

Woyzeck, trans. by John MacKendrick and ed. by Laura Martin (London: Methuen, 2021), 96 pp., is a new edition of the translation first published in 1979 which offers an extensive new commentary including sections exploring socio-historical context, manuscript versions, and publication and production history.

Felder

Franz Michael Felder, A Life in the Making, trans. by David Henry Wilson (London: Pushkin Press, 2021), 320 pp., is a translation of Felder’s Aus meinem Leben, which first appeared in 1904 and which documents the agricultural life of rural Austria.

Fontane

Brian Tucker, Theodor Fontane: Irony and Avowal in a Post-Truth Age, New Directions in German Studies 33 (London: Bloomsbury, 2021), 264 pp., responds to current concerns relating to the reliability of communication and supply of information through an exploration of Fontane’s use of irony as a means of interrogating the ability of the individual, and society in general, to sustain relationships when the words spoken are not necessarily conveying what might be considered the truth. The works examined are Irrungen, Wirrungen, Schach von Wuthenow, Graf Petöfy, L’Adultera, Unwiederbringlich, Effi Briest, and Der Stechlin.

Theodor Fontane und das Erbe der Aufklärung, ed. by Matthias Grüne and Jana Kittelmann, Schriften der Theodor Fontane Gesellschaft 14 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2021), viii + 250 pp., includes the following: Iwan-Michelangelo D’Aprile, ‘ “Was kann preußischer sein als Nathan”: Dimensionen der Aufklärungsrezeption bei Theodor Fontane’ (13–30); Roland Berbig, ‘Hinter alles ein Fragezeichen: Theodor Fontane—Aufklärer, Verklärer, Erklärer’ (31–45); Hubertus Fischer, ‘ “… und spielt sich trotzdem auf Aufklärung und Liberalismus aus”: Politisches und Polemisches bei Theodor Fontane’ (47–65); Dirk Oschmann, ‘Freiheit bei Fontane’ (67–84); Leonhard Herrmann, ‘ “… und sie wird die letzte nicht sein”: Fontanes realsitisches Erzählen und Lessings bürgerliches Trauerspiel’ (105–122); Baptiste Baumann and Jana Kittelmann, ‘ “Ich will ein Lied Euch singen”: Fontane und die patriotische Liedkultur der Aufklärung’ (123–146); Jana Kittelmann, ‘Aufklärerisch-empfindsame Geselligkeit bei Theodor Fontane? Eine Spurensuche’ (147–170); Sophie Wege, ‘Das Maß der Dinge: Zur Funktion der Homöopathie in Unwiederbringlich’ (171–187); Anett Lütteken, ‘ “Und möchten wir von der entkirchlichten Zeit / Auch nicht das Gute missen …” ’ (189–210); and Mike Rottmann, ‘Doppeltes Erbe: Erzählte Aufklärungsskepsis und “erlebte Judenfrage” bei und nach Fontane’ (211–242).

Helen Chambers, ‘Theodor Fontane’s Walter Scott Poems: Fact and Fiction, Text and Paratext’, Angermion, 14 (2021), 1–14, discusses in detail Fontane’s lifelong interest in Scott’s work and explores the late poems ‘Walter Scotts Einzug in Abbotsford’ and ‘Walter Scott in Westminster-Abtei’. Falko Neiningerm, ‘Auf den Spuren von Theodor Fontanes Vater Louis und seiner Familie im Brandenburgischen Landeshauptarchiv’, Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Mittel- und Ostdeutschlands, 66 (2021), 101–147, gives insight into the archival holdings relating to Fontane’s father and in particular his work as a dispensing chemist, noting how this family history is drawn into some of the author’s key works.

There have been two volumes of Fontane-Blätter, both focusing primarily on Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870–1871. 111 (2021) includes the following: Wolfgang Rasch, ‘Theodor Fontane in der zeitgenössischen österreichischen Presse. 2. Von einem namenlosen Korrespondenten über Hieronymus Lorm zu Jakob Wassermann’ (10–29); Georg Wolpert, ‘Wie kleidet man “Kriege” ein? Die Verlagseinbände der ersten Buchausgaben Theodor Fontanes (VI)’ (32–69); Peter Schaefer, ‘ “In weiten Kreisen mit Beifall aufgenommen”: Dankschreiben des preußischen Hofes an den Verleger Rudolf von Decker für Fontanes Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870–1871’ (70–80); Jule Ana Herrmann and Peer Trilcke et al., ‘Zeitgenössische Rezensionen zu Theodor Fontanes Der Krieg gegen Frankreich 1870–1871’ (81–141); Rolf Parr, ‘Fontanes Kriegsbücher: Genre-Mix zwischen allen Stühlen oder spezifische Position im Feld der Kriegsschriften seiner Zeit?’ (142–156); Hugo Aust, ‘Theodor Fontanes Der Krieg gegen Frankreich: Ein krauses Leseerlebnis’ (157–163); Michael Ewert, ‘Zur Erforschung von Fontanes Kriegsbüchern: Ein Versuch’ (164–167); Christine Hehle, ‘Kaum gelesen, ungeliebt: Fontanes Kriegsbücher’ (168–173); and Peer Trilcke, Anna Busch, and Sabine Seifert, ‘Vom Ausbau des Digitalen Archivs: Neue digitale Dienste des Theodor-Fontane-Archivs: Chronik und Briefdatenbank’ (174–185). 112 (2021) includes the following: Alexander Spirawski, ‘Theodor Fontane und das “unsterbliche Gretchen”: Drei unbekannte Briefe an die Schauspielerin Marie Seebach’ (10–15); Klaus-Peter Möller, ‘ “Urfeind der Menschheit”: Fontanes Hilferuf an den Zahntechniker Lahayn’ (16–21); Frank Becker, ‘Fontane im Felde—und im Kontext der Kriegsberichterstattung seiner Zeit: Reisen, Medien und Deutungen’ (22–36); Claudia Stockinger, ‘ “[F]ür ‘geschlossene Bilder und Schilderungen’ hat man in dem sehr wilden Feldleben selten Muß”: Die Gartenlaube im Krieg’ (37–65); Rudolf Muhs, ‘ “Die Poeten des Berliner Figaro”: Verschollene Manuskripte und unausgeführte Projekte zum Dichterleben im Biedermeier’ (66–77); Hubertus Fischer, ‘ “Ziethen an des Königs Tisch”: Unbekannte Fontane-Lied- und Gedichtdrucke im Tunnel-Kontext 1853, 1855, 1856’ (78–91); Wolfgang Rasch, ‘Die Erscheinungsdaten von Theodor Fontanes Büchern im Börsenblatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel von 1849 bis 1898’ (92–135); Rainer Hillenbrand, ‘Aus einem Brief Fontanes über sein Porträtrelief von Wilhelm Wolff’ (136–140); Bernd W. Seiler, ‘Unverstanden, nicht unverständlich: Fontanes Verhältnis zu seiner Schwiegertochter Martha Robert’ (141–169); and Xiaoqiao Wu, ‘ “[H]ier sind Lichter die Hülle und Fülle”: Ein Bericht aus dem Pekinger Fontane-Labor mit einer exemplarischen Lektüre von Frau Jenny Treibel’ (170–187).

Grillparzer

Alicia E. Ellis, Gender and Identity in Franz Grillparzer’s Classical Plays: Figuring the Female (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2021), 198 pp., draws on the work of Sara Ahmed and Judith Butler to offer new readings of Grillparzer’s three classically inspired works, Sappho, Medea, and Des Meeres und der Liebe Willen, as proto-feminist depictions of women countering the restraints imposed upon them, often through means of expression which defy societal norms and expectations. Xiaohu Jiang, ‘Spaces of Contrast: A Spatial Analysis of Franz Grillparzers “Der arme Spielmann” ’, Studia Austriaca, 29 (2021), http://doi.org/10.13130/1593-2508/15799, discusses the role of physical setting and suggests that Grillparzer uses space as a means to highlight the social and political differences between his characters and allude to the constrained political atmosphere of contemporary Austria.

Hahn-Hahn

Christian Schmidt, ‘Contraste, Dissonanzen, Missklänge: Zum Verhältnis von Idylle und Tourismus in literarischen Schweiz-Reisen des 19. Jahrhunderts (Ida Hahn-Hahn, Hans Christian Andersen)’, Sprache und Literatur, 50 (2021), 34–56, explores the imbalance between ideal and reality in relation to the touristic expectation of Switzerland and discusses the differing approaches to idyll and tourism found in Hahn-Hahn’s Eine Idylle and Hans Christian Andersen’s Iisjomfruen.

Hebbel

Silvia Ulrich, ‘The Mushrooms of the Nibelung: How Twitter-Paratexts about Friedrich Hebbel’s Staging at Rheinisches Landestheater Neuss Deal with Ephemera’, Neohelicon, 48 (2021), 53–74, explores the ephemerality of art, in particular in an increasingly digital world, using the RLT Neuss ‘TweetUp’ initiative around the 2013 performance of Hebbel’s Die Nibelungen (1861) as a case study, highlighting the ultimately temporary nature of the engagement and record of events created.

Heine

Song Beyond the Nation: Translation, Transnationalism, Performance, ed. by Philip Ross Bullock and Laura Tunbridge (Oxford: OUP), xiv + 301 pp., takes an interdisciplinary approach to explore the role of song in the emergence of nationalist discourse and constructions of nationhood by challenging long-held assumptions to emphasize the genre as one which readily crosses national, cultural and linguistic boundaries. One section is devoted to the work of Heine and includes the following: Suzannah Clark, ‘Traces of Tourism and Transnationalism in Liszt’s Heine Settings’ (67–93); Benjamin Binder, ‘Performance Matters in Heine: The Case of Pauline Viardot’s “Das ist ein schlechtes Wetter” ’ (94–113); and Laura Tunbridge, ‘ “Once again … speaking of”: Heine in Song’ (114–132).

William Levine, ‘Heinrich Heine’s Critique of the Present: Poetry, Revolution and the “Rights of Life” ’, Political Theory, 49 (2021), 314–338, explores Heine’s Zur Geschichte der Religion und Philosophie in Deutschland in the context of his oeuvre as a whole; he considers the work as Heine’s attempt to criticize contemporary political stagnation and suggests a revolutionary notion of criticism aimed of value to future generations as well as his own. Arianna Amatruda, ‘(Auto)ritratti di dèi decaduti: “Die Götter im Exil” di Heinrich Heine’, Lea, 10 (2021), http://doi.org/10.13128/lea-1824-484x-12919, discusses the motif of exile in Heine’s Die Götter im Exil from both a historio-political and a psychological perspective, uncovering what is taken to be a polytheistic self-portrait reflective of Heine’s own inner turmoil.

This year’s Heine-Jahrbuch (2021) contains the following: Manfred Windfuhr, ‘Poetik und Rhetoric Heines Schfriftstellerbegriff’ (3–26); Gerhard Höhn, ‘Heine, Baudelaire: Kontrastästhetik’ (27–66); Lucien Calvié, ‘ “Die Freiheit führt das Volk” (“La Liberté guidant le people”) 1830, Heine und Delacroix’ (67–85); Zouheir Soukah, ‘ “Zulema, du bist meine heil’ge Kaaba” Arabismen in Heines Lyrik: Eine lexikalische Bestandaufnahme’ (87–105); Anhad Arora, ‘Heine’s Flowers in Schumann’s “Myrthen” ’ (107–125); Hans-Joachim Rickes, ‘Heinrich Heine und Gerhart Hauptmann als Lyriker’ (127–141); and Renate Francke, ‘Zur Geschichte der Heine-Edition in der Weimarer Republik und im Nationalsozialismus. Unbekannte Zeugnisse im Goether- und Schiller-Archiv Weimar’ (143–155).

Heyse

Rainer Hillenbrand, Heyses Novellen: ein literarischer Führer: mit einer Einführung und einer Biliographie, vol. 1 (Hamburg: Verlag Dr Kovač, 2021), 806 pp., is a new revised edition with an extended apparatus. This volume covers the early prose narratives and Novellen from 1855 to 1884.

Hoffmann

Francesco Brigo, ‘Not Only Struwwelpeter: Heinrich Hoffmann (1809–1894) and His Thoughtful Observations on Epilepsy’, Epilepsy and Behavior, 123 (2021), http://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108268, highlights Hoffmann’s Beobachtungen über Seelenstörungen und Epilepsie (1859) in which he notes the phenomenon of somatotopic distribution, placing him almost a decade ahead of the leading figures in the field.

Keller

Several studies have focused on Keller’s Der Grüne Heinrich: Andrea Meyertholen, The Myth of Abstraction: The Hidden Origins of Abstract Art in German Literature (London: Camden House, 2021), 310 pp., includes a discussion of the text centring on the theme of the failed artist and exploring the ways in which failure nevertheless advances the development of art and speaks to the existence of a pre-20th-century abstract art. Michael Lipkin, ‘ “To Make an Example of Myself”: The Problems of an Instructive Realism in Gottfried Keller’s Der grüne Heinrich’, German Studies Review, 44 (2021), 255–273, discusses the author’s use of exemplary characters as an attempt to bridge the gap between fictional concepts of realism and lived experience, a project ultimately doomed to fail in Keller’s own understanding. Yahya Elsaghe, ‘Religionskritik in Gottfried Kellers Erzählwerk: Quellenphilologisch untersucht am Meretlein-Kapitel des Grünen Heinrich’, Zeitschrift für Religions- und Geistesgeschichte, 73 (2021), 179–203, links Keller’s personal reservations about religion and religious institutions to the content of the Novelle Meretlein from Der Grüne Heinrich.

Martin Schneider, ‘ “Der Dämon als Sammler”: Musikarchiv in Gottfried Kellers “Hadlaub” und den Züricher Novellen’, Zeitschrift fuÌr Germanistik, 31 (2021), 40–55, examines Keller’s ironic use of the topoi of Romantic musical aesthetics in the Novelle Hadlaub, in which they are both foregrounded and archived.

Lewald

Gabriele Schneider, ‘ “Liebe Kleine!” Briefe Fanny Lewalds an Ludmilla Assing aus der Sammlung Varnhagen’, Heine-Jahrbuch, (2021), 157–186.

Marx

Two studies have appeared which examine Marx’s relationship to the cultural and literary canon. Christian A. Smith, Shakespeare’s Influence on Karl Marx: The Shakespearean Roots of Marxism (London: Routledge, 2021), 314 pp., uses intertextual and interlingual close reading to explore the influence of Shakespeare on Marx’s work and intellectual development. This is traced back to his formative education under Ludwig von Westphalen and tracked through his oeuvre via canonical texts such as Das Kapital to offer insight into Marx’s role in the revival of interest in the Shakespearean stage in late-19th-century London and the rise of Shakespearean scholarship. Understanding Marx, Understanding Modernism, ed. by Mark Steven (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2021), 256 pp., is part of a series aimed at placing philosophers in context in relation to modernism. This volume offers a series of essays exploring the conceptual underpinning of Marx’s work and then a second section exploring his reception in and significance for modernism including literature, theatre, music, and film.

Thomas H. Ford, ‘Atmospheric Late Romanticism: Babbage, Marx, Ruskin’, Romanticism, 27 (2021), 187–200, takes the themes of computers, communism, and climate change to explore the end of Romanticism, also arguing that elements of what is termed atmospheric Romanticism were reshaped to inspire new thinking in these very different areas. Caterina Vezzoli, ‘Follow the Ghosts: From Oedipus to Hamlet to Marx’, Jung Journal, 15 (2021), 21–39, identifies Sophocles’ tragedy Oedipus at Colonus as the starting point for the author to reconsider and reconnect with ghosts from her own life, namely Marx, Oedipus, Hamlet, and Derrida, as a means to reframe her own practice as an analyst. Also published: Mark Steven, ‘Hideous Hobgoblins: Monstrous Form in Darwin, Marx and Joyce’, James Joyce Quarterly, 58 (2021), 61–80.

Mendelssohn, Felix

Diana Ambache, The Soul of the Journey: The Mendelssohns in Scotland and Italy (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2021), 160 pp., uses the correspondence of Felix and Fanny on their respective trips to Scotland and Italy to illustrate the impact of both nations on the work of the two composers. There are also references to Felix’s experience in Wales and elsewhere. Dan Deutsch, ‘Modalities of Assimilation: Subcultural Currents in Felix Mendelssohn’s Lieder Ohne Worte’, Nineteenth-Century Music Review (2021), 1–28, http://doi.org/10.1017/S1479409821000409, explores the impact of German Jewish subculture on Mendelssohn’s music with a particular focus on the stylistic duality of his Lieder ohne Worte and using Heine’s Die romantische Schule as a contextual anchor.

Meyer

Dionei Mathias, ‘Superfície e profundidade: Fluxos de sentido na poesia de Conrad Ferdinand Meyer’, Babel, 11 (2021), e288233, explores the notion of iconic consciousness in Meyer’s poems ‘Im Spätbot’ and ‘Auf dem Canale Grande’, arguing that images can have their own dynamics in the poetic text, drawing together visual and verbal meanings.

Johannes Bartuschat, ‘Der Dichter als Außenseiter: Dante in Conrad Ferdinand Meyers Novelle Die Hochzeit des Mönchs’, Deutsches Dante-Jahrbuch, 96 (2021), 117–122, explores the interplay between exile and creativity in Meyer’s Novelle, which is positioned as one of the most significant examples of literary Dante reception in the German canon.

Mörike

Márton Dornbach, ‘Meter and Time in Mörike’s “Um Mitternacht” ’, MLN, 136 (2021), 639–659, discusses Mörike’s poem ‘Um Mitternacht’ as a meditation on time as well as a precise balance of formal order and restricted space.

Nestroy

Nestroy’s work and translation have been a focus. Marc Lacheny, ‘ “La réalité est toujours le plus beau témoignage de la posibilité”: Traduire et retraduire Nestroy’, in L’Arche Éditeur: le théâtre à une echelle transnationale, ed. by Florence Baillet and Nicole Colin (Aix-en-Provence: Presses Universitaires de Provence, 2021), 199–208, explores the notion of the untranslatability of his work by examining the translation by Jean-Luc Besson and Heinz Schwarzinger of Der Zerrissene (L’Homme déchiré) and three French versions of Talisman. Ruth Bohunovsky, ‘Johann Nestroy, o ancestral da vanguarda austríaca: quando a língua se fala e a traduçāo (nāo) empaca’, Pandaemonium germanicum, 24 (2021), 246–270, as well as highlighting Nestroy’s canonical and influential status in his native Austria, explores the reception of his work in Brazil in order to challenge the notion that his work defies translation.

Nietzsche

Ulf Schulenberg, Pragmatism and Poetic Agency: The Persistence of Humanism (London: Routledge, 2021), 248 pp., devotes part one to Nietzsche and the Pragmatists, specifically James, Dewey, and Rorty, and explores notions of poetic creativity, drawing links between pragmatism, humanism, anti-authoritarianism, and post-metaphysics as a continuation of Enlightenment ideals. Thomas Harrison, Of Bridges: A Poetic and Philosophical Account (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021), 304 pp., includes a discussion on Nietzsche’s poetry and his Zarathustra centring on the trope of the bridge (169–186). Barbara Beßlich, ‘Nietzsche und die Weltanschauungsliteratur: Denkfiguren—Autorinszenierungen—Textformate’, Scientia poetica: Jahrbuch für Geschichte der Literatur und der Wissenschaften, 25 (2021), 175–188, explores the importance of Nietzsche for Weltanschauungsliteratur and examines work by Salomo Friedländer, Theodor Lessing, Rudolf Pannwitz, and Ernst Bertram. Zachary Case, ‘What’s Nietzsche to Euripides? The Aesthetics of Suffering in Nietzsche’s Birth of Tragedy and Euripides’ Trojan Women’, The Cambridge Classical Journal, 67 (2021), 25–50, places Nietzsche’s Das Geburt der Tragödie in a dialogue with Euripides’ Trojan Women to explore their responses to concepts of nihilism and human suffering. Anna Hartmann Cavalcanti, ‘Da estética romântica à arte do estilo: conexões do jovem Nietzsche com August Koberstein’, Cadernos Nietzsche, 42 (2021), 147–174, discusses, with reference to the framework put forward by Koberstein in his Grundriss der Geschichte der deutschen National-Literatur (1827), the role of form of expression in Nietzsche’s early work as he develops strategies to draw together the literary and the scientific.

Nietzscheforschung 28 (2021) includes a section with a thematic emphasis on Nietzsche as a letter writer: Claus Zittel, ‘Selbstbespiegelungen: Zur Ethik und Poetik von Nietzsches Briefstellerei’ (3–26); Mike Rottmann, ‘Nietzsches Briefkommunikation und epistolare Netzwerke: Plädoyer für eine kooperative und interdisziplinäre Forschung’ (27–52); Christian Wollek, ‘Der Schüler als Briefschreiber: Nietzsches Pfortenser Korrespondenz’ (53–70); Corinna Schubert, ‘ “Herzlichen Gruss von den 2 Berghühnern”: Adressatenadäquates Schreiben und scherzhafte Grußformen’ (71–88); Paul van Tongeren, ‘Zarathustra in Nietzsches Briefen’ (89–110); Na Schädlich, ‘Die Sprache der Distanz in Nietzsches Briefen an Wagner’ (111–134); Renate Müller-Buck, ‘Es war eine lange Passion: Nietzsches Bruch mit Wagner aus der Perspektive seiner Briefe’ (135–150); and Enrico Müller, ‘ “Basler Professor” oder “Gott”: Zum Briefwechsel zwischen Nietzsche und Burckhardt’ (151–170).

The following has appeared as volume 9 in The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche: The Case of Wagner, Twilight of the Idols, The Antichrist, Ecce homo, Dionysuis dithyrambs, Nietzsche contra Wagner (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2021), xiv + 791 pp., which is a translation from the fifteen-volume Friedrich Nietzsche, Sämtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe, ed. by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari. This book corresponds to vol. 6 (7–458) and vol. 14 (383–528).

Pfeiffer

Gisele Eberspächer, ‘Imaginários europeus no Brasil Imperial: uma análise da obra de Ida Pfeiffer’, Pandaemonium germanicum, 24 (2021), 124–140, highlights the role of Pfeiffer’s work Eine Frau fährt um die Welt as an example of the travel writing which established the European understanding of Brazil in the 19th century.

Raabe

Marta Famula, ‘ “Mit dem Sonnenschein des Daseins warm auf dem Bauche”: Einverleibung als Erkenntnisform in Wilhelm Raabes Stopfkuchen’, in Unverfügbares Berinnerlichen: Figuren der Einverleibung zwischen Eucharistie und Anthropologie, ed. by Yvonne Al-Taie and Marta Famula, Amsterdamer Beiträge zur neueren Germanistik 92 (Leiden: Brill Rodopi, 2021), pp. 134–154.

Schopenhauer

Jonathan Freedman, The Jewish Decadence: Jews and the Aesthetics of Modernity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021), 304 pp., offers a discussion of Jewish readings of Schopenhauer including his reception in the work of Freud, Isaac Bashevis Singer, and Bellow, highlighting the notion of pessimism (92–107).

Schumann, Robert

Virginia Sánchez Rodríguez, ‘Clara Schumann and the Schwarz Family: Reconstructing a Friendship through an Edition of Robert Schumann’s Zweites Album für die Jugend’, Music Library Association Notes, 77 (2021), 380–404, uses archival and other sources to uncover the story behind a newly discovered associate of Clara Schumann, Flora Schwarz, to whom a copy of Schumann’s Zweites Album für die Jugend was dedicated.

Stifter

Adalbert Stifter, Motley Stones, trans. by Isabel Fargo Cole (New York: The New York Review of Books, 2021), xxi + 296 pp., is the first full English translation of Stifter’s Novellen cycle and includes a translator’s foreword, which draws attention to the author’s relevance for later writers including Thomas Mann, Hesse, Handke, and Sebald. Also published: Katrin Schär, Erdgeschichte(n) und Entwicklungsromane: Geologisches Wissen und Subjektkonstitution in der Poetologie der frühen Moderne; Goethes Wanderjahre und Stifters Nachsommer (Bielefeld: transcript, 2021), 324 pp.

Varnhagen, Rachel von

Laura Deiulio, ‘ “A Portrait of the Moment”: Rahel Levin Varnhagen’s Letters at the Boundary of Life Writing’, in Contested Selves: Life Writing and German Culture, ed. by Katja Herges and Elisabeth Krimmer (Rochester: Camden House, 2021), 27–36, uses Varnhagen’s epistolary style to examine letter writing as life writing and compares it to other forms such as autobiography and essay.

Vischer

Maria C. Scott, ‘Baudelaire, Vischer, and Self-Transforming Empathy’, Nineteenth-Century French Studies, 50 (2021), 84–102, reads Baudelaire’s poems ‘La Cloche fêlée’, ‘La Musique’, and ‘Le Flacon’ in relation to Vischer’s early ideas on empathy and the poet’s relationship to modernism.

Wagner

… und über allem schwebt Richard: Minna Wagner und Cäcilie Avernarius: zwei Schwägerinnen im Briefwechsel, ed. by Martin Geck (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2021), 240 pp., guides the reader through the correspondence with a foreword and contextualized chronological sections, drawing together material from several archives.

Timothy Anderson, ‘There’s Something about Murray: Victorian Literary Societies and Alfred Forman’s Translation of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen’, Modern Language Quarterly, 82 (2021), 281–313, explores how Forman’s oft-critiqued translations of Wagner’s Ring Cycle served to align the composer with contemporary radical poets and presented an early political reading to a middle-class audience of Wagner’s work. Michaela Weiss and Miroslav Urbanec, ‘Opera as Comics: Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelungen in Craig P. Russell’s Graphic Adaptation’, Open Library of Humanities, 7 (2021), http://doi.org/10.16995/olh.4680, discusses the potential of graphic narrative to convey the complexity of an extensive opera cycle through analysis of P. Craig Russell’s The Ring of the Nibelung (2000–2001) and his deployment of graphic mythic grandiosity as well as imagery including the classic illustrations of Arthur Rackham and Carl Emil Doepler. Also published: Ronald Witzke, ‘Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen: Another Look’, Christian Scholar’s Review, 50 (2021), 245–260.