Abstract
This is a critical bibliographical survey of academic studies published in 2023 in the area of German Studies.
1 General
German Literature as a Transnational Field of Production, 1848–1919, ed. by Lynne Tatlock and Kurt Beals, Studies in German Literature, Linguistics and Culture, 235 (London: Camden House, 2023), interrogates the inherently fragmented nature of German literary and cultural identity through the nineteenth century in the context of the international networks which both inform and hinder the development of a ‘German’ field of production. Notable is the focus on a range of erstwhile ‘Randfiguren’ such as Scherr and Pfeiffer who have only recently been the focus of sustained scholarship. This excellent volume contains the following contributions relevant to the period under review: Lynne Tatlock and Kurt Beals, ‘Introduction: A Transnational Literary Field in the Age of Nationalism’ (1–21); Thomas Beebee, ‘The Passion of Johannes Scherr: Historiography as Trauma’ (22–38); Norbert Bachleitner, ‘Between Integration and Differentiation: On the Relationship between German and Austrian Literature in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century’ (39–58); Vance Byrd, ‘Reading Stifter in America’ (59–78); Kirsten Belgum, ‘Travel Writing and Transnational Marketing: How Ida Pfeiffer Brought the World to Austria and Beyond’ (79–107).
Two volumes explore aspects of the serial format. Sean Franzel, Writing Time: Studies in Serial Literature, 1780–1850 (Ithaca: Cornell, 2023), draws on media theory and the study of periodicals to examine the ways in which forms of serial literature often regarded as peripheral, such as the caricature or tableau, provide writers with new ways of conceptualizing and writing about time. In so doing, the author makes the case for the repositioning of these forms and the serial in general as key in the development of Zeitgeschichte. The volume includes case studies on Ludwig Börne and Heinrich Heine. Truth in Serial Form: Serial Formats and the Form of the Series, 1850–1930, ed. by Malika Maskerinec (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2023), focuses on the huge growth in serialized forms in relation to all manner of knowledge which filled the pages of periodicals from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. This phenomenon is considered through the lens of modern mass social media to explore the understanding of truth and how such short interventions in serial form negotiate the expectations of the readership they are seeking to inform. The volume contains the following contributions relevant to the period under review: Sean Franzel, ‘Heine’s Serial Histories of the Revolution’ (23–54); Elizabeth Strowick, ‘ “Nachkommenschaften”: Stifter’s Series’ (83–114); and Malika Maskerinec, ‘The Bachelor: Gottfried Keller’s “Der Landvogt von Greifensee” and Serial Erotics’ (195–220).
Two studies focus on Viennese theatre. Martin Wagner, A Stage for Debate: The Political Significance of Vienna’s Burgtheater, 1814–1867 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2023), covers a range of dramatists including Grillparzer and Bauernfeld, as well as focusing on the large number of foreign plays staged during the mid-century, in a discussion of the role of the Burgtheater in the development of political and cultural debates in Austria. The topics range from personal freedom to women’s rights and role in society, as well as the engagement of the stage with notions of national and regional identity. The theatre is revealed as having a significant political influence. Thomas Nolte, Spielformen des Komischen: Das Unterhaltungstheater des 19. Jahrhunderts in Wien und Paris (Konstanz: University of Konstanz Press, 2023), takes a comparative approach and examines the ways in which the theatre of the trivial, identified by the author as an under-researched area, grows in popularity and significance through the century. Referring to playwrights such as Ferdinand Raimund and Johann Nestroy, the volume explores the ways in which this particular aspect of the theatre mirrors changes in social habits and beliefs.
Also taking a comparative approach to nineteenth-century Austrian culture, Utopie und Dystopie: Beiträge zur österreichischen und europäischen Literatur vom 18. bis zum 21. Jahrhundert, ed. by Martin Vejvar and Nicole Streitler-Kastberger (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023), explores responses to moments of crisis and of hope as writers seek to offer alternative visions for society. The volume contains the following relevant to the period under review: Christian Neuhuber, ‘ “Ich glaub’ es wird noch ein wildes End nehmen”: Die Geburt des Komödianten Nestroy aus dem Geist von Utopie und Dystopie’ (15–24); and Daniela Strigl, ‘Stadtfluchten im Fin de Siècle: Marie von Ebner-Eschenbachs und Peter Roseggers Schreibtischmenschen probieren das Leben auf dem Lande’ (25–38).
Jean Kommers, ‘Gypsies’ in Nineteenth-Century Children’s Books: A Comparative Study of Four National Literary Traditions (Amsterdam: Brill, 2023), compares German, Dutch, English, and French texts featuring depictions of ‘gypsies’, especially those from 1850 onwards when children’s literature began to develop a more coherent canon. The German aspect is seen to be significant due to the wide dissemination of German children’s literature.
Mehrdeutigkeit als literarisches Thema: Strategien und Funktionen von der Romantik bis zur Gegenwart, ed. by Stefan Descher, Janina Jacke, Eva-Maria Konrad, and Thomas Petraschka, Literalität und Liminalität, 32 (Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2023), explores the concept of ambiguity in the work of a number of writers and includes the following relevant to the period under review: Johannes Hees-Pelikan, ‘Wer oder was ist Friedrich Mergel? Mehrdeutig(keit) erzählen in Annette von Droste-Hülshoffs Die Judenbuche’ (47–68); Ben Dittmann, ‘Die semantische Zähmung der Stelle: Thematisierte Mehrdeutigkeit in Grillparzers Der arme Spielmann als Reflexionsangebot hermeneutischer Problemlagen’ (69–88); Lena Wetenkamp, ‘Mehrstimmiges und mehrdeutiges Erzählen in Wilhelm Raabes Drei Federn’ (89–106); and Matthias Grüne, ‘Conrad Ferdinand Meyers Der Heilige und die Funktionen kalkulierter Ambiguität im realistischen Erzählen’ (107–128).
2 Individual Authors
Büchner
Two articles explore Lenz. Daniela Liguori, ‘ “Auf dem Kopf gehen”: Il discorso sulla follia nel Lenz di Georg Büchner’, Itinera, 24 (2022), 139–151, discusses the theme of madness in Lenz in relation to Cartesian notions of existence. Veronica Curran, ‘What is Radical? Büchner and Brecht Read Lenz’, German Life and Letters, 76 (2023), 88–109, seeks to understand what it is about the life of Jakob Meinhold Lenz which has so interested writers such as Büchner and Brecht, drawing together works by the three writers to reflect on the notion of individuality in particular. There are discussions of both Lenz and Woyzeck.
Also focusing on Woyzeck, Joseph Prestwich, ‘Büchner, Borders and the Converging of “Crowds”: Jack Thorne’s Woyzeck (2017)’, German Life and Letters, 76 (2023), 547–563, focuses on the 2017 performance of Büchner’s play at the Old Vic in London and explores the ways in which British theatre represents German culture through productions of German works. Tuğba Aygan, ‘Woyzeck is Back! A Comparative Reading of Traumatised Soldiers in Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck and Anthony Neilson’s Penetrator’, Studien zur deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 50 (2023), 23–32, investigates depictions of what came to be known as post-traumatic stress disorder in Büchner’s play and draws comparisons with Neilson’s 1993 work, highlighting the ways in which army life, not just war itself, can brutalize individual soldiers.
Dohm
Charlotte Woodford, ‘ “Wir hätten keine Zukunft mehr?” Hedwig Dohm’s Future-Oriented Ideas of Aging in Feminist Writings from the 1900s and her Short Story Werde, die du bist’, Publications of the English Goethe Society, 92 (2023), 201–216, draws on Simone de Beauvoir’s reading of old age in her 1970 La Vieillesse to throw new light on Dohm’s engagement with notions of aging as part of the marginalization of women and double standards in the nineteenth century and the early twentieth, but also how Dohm offers ways in which the individual can circumvent these.
Droste-Hülshoff
Julia Gutterman, ‘A Secret Thing: Forgetting the Author in Annette von Droste-Hülshoff’s “Das erste Gedicht” ’, German Quarterly, 96 (2023), 498–515, argues against the standard reading of Droste-Hülshoff’s poem as expressing secrecy and shame, suggesting instead a foregrounding of forgetting as a means to highlight a potential multiplicity of creative origins which Guttermann sees as a pre-echo of modernism. The article draws on Walter Benjamin’s reception of Droste-Hülshoff as well as her letters, manuscripts, and poetic oeuvre. Also published: Ksenia Kuzminykh, ‘Facetten des Unglücks: Ästhetische Verfahren der Bewusstseinsdarstellung in Texten von Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, Evdokija Rostopčina und Anna Bunina’, Studien zur deutschen Sprache und Literatur, 49 (2023), 55–87.
Ebner-Eschenbach
Irena Samide, ‘Die Mensch-Hund-Beziehung in der deutschen Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts: Tieretische Aspekte in den Erzählungen von Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach und Ferdinand von Saar’, Acta Neophilologica, 56 (2023), 107–124, centres on debates around the non-human and ethics to explore the contemporary currency of ethical approaches to animals in the late nineteenth century.
Fechner
Irene Altmann, ‘Gustav Fechner as Natural Scientist’, ChemTexts, 9 (2023), Article 3, presents an overview of Fechner’s life and work to enable a better understanding of his science, arguing too that the polymath’s range of interests should serve as a role model for modern students of the sciences who are all too often constrained within a set curriculum.
Fontane
Theodor Fontane Handbuch, ed. by Gabriele Radecke, Julia Bertschik, Peer Trilcke, and Rolf Parr (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023), is an extensive volume which aims to serve as a comprehensive source for those with an interest in Fontane, as well as surveying the current state of research in this area. The range of contributors is immense and includes many of the key figures in Fontane studies. The volume includes sections relating to his home and professional life, his working methods, his place in the German and international canon, each of his individual works across various genres, his correspondence, his translation work, his editorial work, his unpublished work, and his reception.
Fontane-Blatter, 115 (2023), contains the following contributions: Wolfgang Rasch, ‘Theodor Wolff über Theodor Fontane: Eine unbekannte Rezension und Erinnerungen’ (8–29); Klaus-Peter Möller, ‘Fontanes Briefe an Theodor Wolff: Literaturgeschichtliches, Interpretationen, Kontexte’ (30–47); Rudolf Muhs, ‘Aus der Frühzeit der Fontane-Philologie: Bertha Eleanor Trebein (1874–1963)’ (48–66); Christine Hehle, ‘Wiedergefunden: Textgenetische und narratologische Anmerkungen zu einem Erzählfragment Theodor Fontanes’ (68–84); Sophia Wege, ‘Schopenhauer, Kant und Darwin in Allerlei Glück’ (85–103); Mike Rottmann, ‘Entzweite Moderne—durchschaute Ambivalenz: Fontanes Novellenfragment Storch von Adebar und der Essayentwurf Adel und Judenthum in der Berliner Gesellschaft’ (104–125); Henny Sluyter-Gäthje, Daniil Skorinkin, and Peer Trilcke, ‘Vermessungen des “Unvollendeten”: Experimente zur quantitativ-genetischen Narratologie anhand von Fontanes Fragmenten’ (126–150).
Fontane-Blätter, 116 (2023), contains the following contributions: Hans-Jürgen Beck, ‘ “[D]a sang doch die liebenswürdige Commerzien-räthin in Kissingen ganz anders”: Theodor Fontane und die Familie Sonnenthal’ (8–17); Klaus-Peter Möller, ‘ “Nicht-Eroberungen”: Theodor Fontanes Briefe an Paul Linsemann (1871–1954): Literaturgeschichtliches, Interpretationen, Kontexte’ (18–47); Charlotte Anke, ‘ “[A]ber etwas abweichend”: Eine Untersuchung der ersten französischen Übersetzung von Fontanes Kriegsgefangen durch Jean Thorel: Souvenirs d’un prisonnier de guerre allemand en 1870’ (48–83); Iwan-Michelangelo D’Aprile, ‘Algerier in Spandau, Germanen in Paraguay: Georg Friedlaenders Aus den Kriegstagen 1870 und die Folgen’ (84–105); Georg Wolpert, ‘Die Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg: Eine Chronologie der Buchausgaben’ (106–160).
Also published: Katrin Gunkel, ‘Multilingualism and Nationality in Theodor Fontane’s Kriegsgefangen: Erlebtes 1870’, in Hidden Mutlilingualism in 19th-Century European Literature, ed. by Jana-Katharina Mende (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2023), 143–168.
Franzos
Hedvig Ujvari, ‘Die Präsenz von Karl Emil Franzos in den deutschsprachigen Medien Ungarns—Mediales Umfeld und Bestandsaufnahme’, Hungarian Studies, 37 (2023), 166–181, seeks to uncover the extent to which Franzos contributed to the periodical culture of Hungary by tracing his presence in the German-language press, in particular in Pester Lloyd, Ungarischer Lloyd, Ungarische Illustrirte Zeitung, and Neue Illustrirte Zeitung.
Freiligrath
Published: Bernd Füllner, ‘Der Freiligrath-Verein und das Elberfelder Literaturkränzchen 1838–1844’, Grabbe-Jahrbuch (2023), 104–122.
Grabbe
Grabbe-Jahrbuch (2023) has the following contributions: Lothar Ehrlich, ‘Grabbe-Forschung im letzten Jahrzehnt (2012–2022)’ (7–37); Peter Schütze, ‘Theater ohne Illusionen: Dramatische Feldzüge mit Christian Dietrich Grabbe in den 2010er Jahren’ (38–68); Hannah von Sass, ‘ “Interessiert Sie auch unsere, etwas zurückgebliebene, magere, deutsche Literatur?” Christian Dietrich Grabbes “Aschenbrödel” (1829/35) im Kontext dramatischer Märchenbearbeitungen’ (69–85); and Pavel Novotný, ‘Zwischen Literaturwissenschaft und poetischer Faszination: Zu Otokar Fischers Rezeption des Werkes von Christian Dietrich Grabbe’ (86–103).
Grillparzer
Two articles take the depiction of ruling figures as their focus. Miroslav Urbanec, ‘Prometheische Herrscherfiguren: Franz Grillparzers König Ottokar und Kaiser Mathias’, Acta Facultatis Philosophicae Universitatis Ostraviensis: Studia germanistica, 32 (2023), 109–119, draws on the representation of Prometheus in works by Goethe to explore links to the figures of two Promethean figures in König Ottokars Glück und Ende and Ein Brüderzwist in Habsburg. Györgyi Koksa, ‘Die Charakterisierung Ottokar von Böhmens Figur in Johann Ladislaus Pyrkers Epos “Rudolph von Habsburg” (1825) und in Franz Grillparzers Drama “König Ottokars Glück und Ende” ’, ACTA Universitatis, Germanistische Studien, 13 (2023), 135–154, explores the ways in which the historical figure Ottokar von Böhmen is depicted in works by Grillparzer and Pryker and how this relates to the founding mythology of Austria.
Jana Hrdličková, ‘ “Klar muß es sein um Medea, klar!” Zu den Exotismen in Franz Grillparzers Das goldene Vließ’, Journal of Austrian Studies, 56 (2023), 49–70, examines Grillparzer’s trilogy Das goldene Vließ as a vehicle for exploring ethical issues around looted art by focusing on exoticism and the role of Medea.
Hamerling
Michiel Rys, ‘Between Nationalist and Cosmopolitan Visions of Fraternity: The Prefigurative Role of the French Revolution in Victor Hugo’s Introduction to “Paris Guide” (1867) and Roberty Hamerling’s “Danton und Robespierre” ’, Studia austriaca, 31 (2023), 75–95, explores the concept of fraternity in works by Hugo and Hamerling based on the events of the French Revolution and whose cosmopolitanism is seen as a reaction to the period around the Franco-Prussian War.
Heine
Two articles focus on the work of Heine in the context of world literature. Michael Swellander, ‘The Arabic-Spanish-Jewish School of Poets: Heinrich Heine’s “Jehudah Ben Halevy” and World Literature’, The Germanic Review, 98 (2023), 33–45, sees Heine’s 1851 poem as modifying the Goethean ideal to draw in the Jewish diaspora and suggests that Heine was more radical than other thinkers in positing the transcultural and multilingual nature of Jewish literature as informing future debate on world literature. Christoph auf der Horst, ‘Heinrich Heine und die “rote Weltliteratur” ’, The Germanic Review, 98 (2023), 46–66, explores the ways in which twentieth-century ideas of ‘rote Weltliteratur’ connect with the concept of ‘Welthülfsliteratur’ suggested by Heine, positioning the latter as a precursor to Marxist ideals of workers’ literature. Also placing Heine’s work in an international context is Naim Kryeziu and Lirak Karjagdiu, ‘Heinrich Heine in Albanian Literature’, Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 13 (2023), 299–310, which traces the reception of his work in that of Albanian poets such as Çajupi, Konica, Noll, and Poradeci. Key themes they draw on include patriotism, freedom, and longing.
Elizabeth Rottenberg, ‘Joking Around, Seriously: Freud, Derrida and the Irrepressible Wit of Heinrich Heine’, Humanities (Basel), 12 (2023), 113, explores the interconnections between Heine, Freud, and Derrida with a focus on the reception of Heine’s wit in their work. Also published: S. Sridevi, ‘The Concept of Romanticism: Friedrich Schlegel, August Wilhelm Schlegel, and Heinrich Heine’, Language in India, 23 (2023), 104–119.
Heyse
Matthias Bauer, ‘Paul Heyses Italien—eine interkulturelle Szenografie?’, Zeitschrift für interkulturelle Germanistik, 14 (2023), 17–30, explores Heyse’s Italian novellas, in particular his use of scenography and the extent to which this strategy was used to challenge the preconceptions of the German readership in relation to the Mediterranean.
Hoffmann von Fallersleben
Benedikt Wolf, ‘Inverted Minor Literature: August Hoffmann von Fallersleben’s Poem “Rotwälsch” and the Naturalization of the German Language’, The German Quarterly, 96 (2023), 22–38, uses Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of minor literature to examine the poem ‘Rotwälsch’ and the context in which it was published, arguing that the text is an example of inverted minor literature, used to emphasize otherness against the backdrop of the hegemonic discourse of Germanness.
Keller
Two further volumes in the series Gottfried Kellers Moderne have appeared. The third volume, Kellers Welten: Territorien—Ordnungen—Zirkulationen, ed. by Sebastian Meixner (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2023), contextualizes Keller’s work in the era of industrialization, imperialism, and colonialism and explores the ways in which the social impact of these phenomena is reflected in his work. Contributions include the following: Sebastian Meixner, ‘Kellers Welten: Einleitung’ (1–26); Dorothee Kimmich, ‘Gottfried Kellers Niemandsländer: Von den Grenzen des Nomos’ (27–46); Franziska Bergmann, ‘Exotik und Enttäuschung: Gottfried Kellers Novelle Pankraz, der Schmoller’ (47–56); Thomas Wortmann, ‘Weltenkrach: Zum Verhältnis von Ökonomie, Politik und Familie in Gottfried Kellers Martin Salander’ (57–74); Lucas Marco Gisi, ‘Martin Salanders koloniale Abenteuer: Eine postkoloniale Lektüre von Gottfried Kellers Zeitroman’ (75–90); Daniel Fulda, ‘Somewhere oder Anywhere? Kellers zweiter Deutschlandaufenthalt 1848–1855’ (91–107); Arne Höcker, ‘Ein Amt: Gottfried Kellers Roman Der grüne Heinrich zwischen Bildung und Institution’ (109–122); Peter C. Pohl, ‘Epische Alterität im Grünen Heinrich: Meister, Muster, Misslingen’ (123–144); Willi Goetschel, ‘Kellers Dissonanzen’ (145–162); Kay Wolfinger, ‘Gottfried Keller okkult: Eine Lektüre von Kellers Die Geisterseher’ (163–172); Alexander Honold, ‘Chrestomatie: Über die Kategorie der Nützlichkeit in den Novellen Kellers’ (173–184); Anette Schwarz, ‘Affekt und Raum: Die Schwermut der Drei gerechten Kammmacher’ (185–201); Dirk Rose, ‘Kellers Kantaten: Topische und dynamische Welt in den Festkantaten von 1883’ (203–218); Fabian Lampart, ‘Zukunftswissen? Kellers narrative Diskussion der prognostischen Relevanz ökonomischer Fallgeschichten’ (219–234); Christian Schmitt, ‘Schäfchenhimmel, Schildpattgewölke: Idyllenkritik und Wirtschaftsreflexion bei Gottfried Keller (Feuer-Idylle, Die Leute von Seldwyla)’ (235–250); Sebastian Meixner, ‘Der Exzess der Bilder: Ökonomie und Moral in Kellers Dietegen’ (251–268); Wolfgang Struck, ‘Kellers Geografien: Passagen und Passagiere zwischen Pfennig-Magazin und Sinngedicht’ (269–279).
The fourth volume in the Gottfried Kellers Moderne series, Kellers Wissen: Dinge—Diskurse—Praktiken, ed. by Cornelia Pierstorff (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, 2023), explores Keller’s engagement with emerging science and the developing understanding of the human condition. Contributions include: Davide Giuriato, ‘Insektenpoesie Gottfried Kellers Martin Salander’ (21–36); Aglaia Kister, ‘Scham als Triebkraft der Literatur: Zum poetischen Potenzial psychodynamischer Prozesse in Kleider machen Leute’ (37–66); Nicolas Detering, ‘Motivationsverzicht und Perspektivwechsel Kellers Märtyrerinnenlegenden und die Faszination des Unerzählbaren’ (67–88); Sandro Zanetti, ‘Poetische Ernüchterung: Aktaion und sein Ende bei Gottfried Keller’ (89–101); Erica Weitzman, ‘La Bête humaine: Naturalismus und Naturtriebe in Das Sinngedicht’ (103–124); Yahya Elsaghe, ‘Keller und Bachofen: Zu den Gender Troubles der Sieben Legenden’ (125–150); Gabriel Trop, ‘Keller’s Nature-Philosophy’ (151–172); Peter Stocker, ‘Verfassungswissen bei Gottfried Keller und Das Fähnlein der Sieben Aufrechten’ (173–188); Nathan Taylor, ‘Subprime Realism: On Debt and Deformation in Keller’ (189–218); Cornelia Zumbusch, ‘Cura, Care und Caritas: Gottfried Kellers Roman Der grüne Heinrich als verdeckte Geschichte der Sorge’ (217–236); David Pister, ‘Buying Fat from Cats: Judicial and Narrative Substitutions in Gottfried Keller’s Spiegel, das Kätzchen’ (237–250); Vera Bachmann, ‘Poetik des Vergleichs: Recht und Rhetorik in Kellers Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe’ (251–268); Malika Maskarinec, ‘Der Tod des Autors: Kellers Überlegungen zu Autor und Werk anhand Gedanken eines Lebendig-Begrabenen’ (269–290).
Jana Vijayakumaran, ‘Colossal Scrawls and Divine Naughts: Images of Formlessness in Gottfried Keller’s Der grüne Heinrich and Robert Walser’s Jakob von Unten’, Arcadia, 58 (2023), 52–68, identifies resonances of Keller’s novel in Walser’s text and explores how they feed into the metanarrative which posits the concept of non-form as a sitting at the heart of aesthetic and linguistic productivity, placing this in turn in the aesthetic discourse of the early twentieth century.
Lewald
Perspectives in relation to auto/biography have been discussed in two articles. Ulrike Schneider, ‘Biographische Darstellungen jüdischer Autorinnen im 19. Jahrhundert: Ludwig Geigers Arbeiten zu Dorothea Schlegel und Fanny Lewald’, Aschkenas, 33 (2023), 259–271, examines the biographies of Schlegel and Lewald in Geiger’s 1896 Dichter und Frauen, with a focus on the Jewish heritage and patriotism that he shared with his subjects. Andree Michaelis-König, ‘Im Spiegel des Prinzen: Fanny Lewalds auto/biographische Selbstreflexionen als Jüdin in “Prinz Louis Ferdinand” (1849)’, Aschkenas, 33 (2023), 245–257, discusses Lewald’s novel as a work of self-reflection with both the eponymous protagonist and the fictionalized depiction of Rahel Levin serving as a canvas for the author to explore female and Jewish experiences of disempowerment and loss.
Marx
Several publications consider the ideas of Marx in relation to literature. Gabriel Egan, Shakespeare and Marx (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023), examines the ongoing influence of Marx’s ideas on the links between cultural and economic production as evidenced through the application to Renaissance literary studies of theories such as feminism, new historicism, cultural materialism, postcolonial theory, and queer theory. Victoria Baena, ‘History’s Borrowed Languages: Emily Brontë, Karl Marx, and the Novel of 1848’, English Literary History, 90 (2023), 107–135, examines from an ethical perspective Brontë’s use of provincial dialect and juxtaposes it with Marx’s comments on language and revolution around 1848. Also published: Tony Voss, ‘Marx, Herder and the German Shakespearian Dialectic: A Review Essay’, Shakespeare in Southern Africa, 36 (2023), 112–118.
Meyer
Gunther Wenz, Zweideutige Geschichten zur Dichtung Conrad Ferdinand Meyers (Munich: Utzverlag, 2023), draws out ambivalence as a theme in Meyer’s work and explores the full range of his oeuvre including the two verse epics Huttens letzte Tage and Engelberg, his Meisternovellen, and his lyrical work.
Mörike
Der Erzähler Eduard Mörike, ed. by Barbara Potthast (Heidelberg: Winter, 2023), takes a wide-ranging approach to aspects of Mörike’s prose, previously neglected in favour of his poetry, as well as his correspondence, autobiographical writings, and other works in order to begin a more rounded discussion of his life and work. Contributions include the following: Ulrich Gaier, ‘Mörikes Poetik und die Musterkärtchen’ (9–18); Sigurd Paul Scheichl, ‘Mörike auf dem Weg zum Aphorismus’ (19–32); Barbara Potthast, ‘Mörikes Investiturlebenslauf als literarisches Bekenntnis gelesen’ (33–54); Michael Perraudin, ‘Mörikes lyrische Narrativik’ (55–70); Björn Hayer, ‘Narrative Integrationen: Soziale, politische und ästhetische Implikationen des Erzählens in Eduard Mörikes Prosa’ (71–84); Ute Weidenhiller, ‘Kunst als Grenzphänomen im erzählenden Werk Eduard Mörikes’ (85–104); Helmut J. Schneider, ‘Erzählungen von Dingen als Kunst-Geschichten (Besuch in der Carthause, Der alte Thurmhahn, Idylle vom Bodensee, Mozart auf der Reise nach Prag, Das Stuttgarter Hutzelmännlein)’ (105–126); Yvonne Zimmermann, ‘Das Stuttgarter Hutzelmännlein als Kommentar zur zeitgenössischen Geschichtsschreibung’ (127–146); Andreas Bässler, ‘Von Zungenbrechern und anderen Störfaktoren: “Sprünge und Würfe” der Überlieferung in Mörikes Hutzelmännlein’ (147–162); Jürgen Wertheimer, ‘Wasserfrauen und lebende Tote: Mischwesen bei Eduard Mörike’ (163–172); Claudia Liebrand, ‘Hinter dem Rücken des Erzählers: Doppelte Optiken in Mörikes Lucie Gelmeroth’ (173–190); Mathias Luserke-Jaqui, ‘Das “Gartenabenteuer” als literarische Psychografie: Anmerkungen zu Mörikes Novelle Mozart auf der Reise nach Prag (1855)’ (191–210); Ernst Rohmer, ‘ “… Und es mußte das Erz ihm reichen der Heide”: Mörikes Idylle vom Bodensee zwischen Versepos und Dorfgeschichte’ (211–234); Helmut Koopmann, ‘Mörike: Der Schatz: Erzählerische Seiltänzerei—durch Wahrheit und Dichtung hindurch’ (235–250); Katharina Grätz, ‘Schatzkästlein, Wegweiser und ein nichtsnutziger Knopf: Verwirrspiele mit romantischen und realistischen Requisiten in Mörikes Der Schatz’ (251–268); Monika Ritzer, ‘Mörikes Maler Nolten: Debüt mit tieferer Idee’ (269–294); Jutta Heinz, ‘Verspätete Schwärmerkuren? Eduard Mörikes Die geheilte Phantastin’ (295–320).
Martin Dawson, ‘Playful Distance: On the Relationship between Fossils and Time in Eduard Mörike’s “Göttliche Reminiscenz” ’, Seminar, 59 (2023), 354–371, taking as a focal point the depiction of fossils and responses to them, explores the ways in which Mörike’s playful use of dreams, memory, art, and pastimes enables the emergence of a range of spatiotemporal relationships to emerge, in this case in relation to the non-human, often set against more sombre topoi such as death.
Also published: Raffaella Bertazzoli, ‘Cristina Campo et Eduard Mörike tra poesia e traduizione’, Cahiers d’études italiennes, 36 (2023), 1–18.
Nietzsche
A number of articles discuss Nietzsche’s theory of tragedy in relation to literature and performance. Claus Zittel, ‘Im “Wirbel des Seins”: Die Geburt der Geburt der Tragödie aus dem Geiste Friedrich Hebbels’, Nietzsche-Studien, 52 (2023), 1–39, traces Hebbel’s influence on the 1872 edition of Nietzsche’s text, revealing a more nihilistic and poetically powerful version. Hyungseob Lee, ‘On Tragedy: Maeterlinck, Nietzsche and Yeats’, The Yeats Journal of Korea, 71 (2023), 1–20, engages with Yeats’s theory of tragedy in relation to both Nietzsche’s philosophy of tragedy and Maeterlinck’s notion of static drama, with a close examination of the interface of tragic effect and dramatic form in Yeats’s work. Fabrice Grebert, ‘Nietzsche e o teatro’, Cadernos Nietzsche, 44 (2023), 193–219, discusses Nietzsche’s relation to the theatre itself, as opposed to more abstract theories of tragedy or art. Michael Lackey, ‘German Biofiction from Nietzsche to the Present’, Auto/Biography Studies, 38 (2023), 1–8, positions Nietzsche’s Zarathustra as paving the way for contemporary bio-fiction, pre-dating the previously accepted origins found in the work of Lytton Strachey and others in the 1920s and 1930s.
Also published: Wesley de Jesus Barbosa, ‘Nietzsche: Leitor de Dostoiévski’, Revista opinião filosófica, 14 (2023), 1–24.
Pückler-Muskau
Sebastian Böhmer, ‘Wie im falschen Märchen: Ein Versuch über die zahlreichen Probleme mit dem Fürsten Pückler-Muskau sowie Gedenken an ihn’, Zeitschrift für interkulturelle Germanistik, 14 (2023), 177–190, takes a critical approach to the popular and scholarly reading of Pückler-Muskau’s life and evaluation of his work.
Sacher-Masoch
Renan Marques Isse, ‘Desconstrução da sexualidad em Sacher-Masoch’, Revista de Letras Norte@mentos, 16 (2023), 221–237, argues for a nuanced reading of Sacher-Masoch’s work, noting how it moves away from simple masochistic sexual representation to depict instead the denial of sexuality through tropes such as clothing.
Schopenhauer
Two articles engage with Schopenhauer’s thought in relation to key literary figures. David Takamura, ‘Illusion and Individuation in the Orientalisms of Arthur Schopenhauer and Karoline von Günderrode’, The German Quarterly, 96 (2023), 308–325, explores the ways in which both Schopenhauer and Günderrode benefit intellectually from their engagement with Indian thought, especially in relation to Western notions of individuation. Schopenhauer focuses, in line with much orientalist thought of the nineteenth century, on Indian “antirealism”, broadly the Indian concept māyā, while Günderrode tends toward the Indian concept of saṃsāra, or cyclical reincarnation. Traian-Ioan Geană, ‘ “Zwang-Idee” und Willensmetaphsik: Spuren von Rilkes Schopenhauer-Rezeption in Das Gold … und darüber hinaus’, Monatshefte, 115 (2023), 1–24, seeks to provide a nuanced analysis of Schopenhauer’s influence in Rilke’s poem, taking the view that gold is presented as a outcome of a ‘compulsive idea’ and therefore linked to the principle of will. The author posits this as a more productive way to approach Rilke’s work than via Nietzsche’s ‘will to power’.
Sealsfield
Jerry Schuchalter, Understanding Charles Sealsfield, Understanding America (Bern: Peter Lang, 2023), presents an overview of Sealsfield’s life and work and argues for his repositioning within both the German and the American canons. The volume discusses his prose fiction, travel writing, and correspondence.
Spyri
Kunnathil Muhammed Aslam, ‘Intergenerational Dependence: A Socio-Psychological Approach to Johanna Spyri’s Old-Age Narrative Heidi’, ICFAI Journal of English Studies, 18 (2023), 5–25, uses Spyri’s text as a narrative lens through which to examine the relations between the elderly and the very young as a means to better understand notions of dependence and interdependence in old age.
Stifter
Wolfgang R. Heuer, Cosmos and Republic: Arendtian Explorations of the Loss and Recovery of Politics, Edition Politik 145 (Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2023) is a retrospective collection of essays that contains the following previously unpublished chapter: ‘Desert and Oasis: Arendt Reads Stifter’ (285–310) that uncovers a review by Arendt of Elisabeth Mayer’s 1945 English translation of Bunte Steine, which contains comments on the relationship between humans and nature that are not found elsewhere in her writing.
Varnhagen
Rhiannon Hein, ‘Loving in Queer Time: Rahel Varnhagen’s Life and Letters’, Feminist German Studies, 39 (2023), 49–73, suggests that Varnhagen was perceived as a queer figure in Berlin, doubly marginalized at the time as both an unmarried woman and a Jew. Examination of her correspondence with Rebecca Friedländer and Pauline Wiesel uncovers a number of challenges to the normativity of the period and throws light on the tensions within the gender and ethnic politics of Prussia in the early nineteenth century.
Wagner
Donald A. Rosenthal, Richard Wagner and the Art of the Avant-Garde, 1860–1910 (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2023), while not relating directly to the writers of the period, nevertheless provides an insightful discussion of the work of the avant-garde across the cultural spectrum in relation to the reception of the work of Wagner. Artists whose works are discussed include Eugène Delacroix, Henri Fantin-Latour, Odilon Redon, Max Klinger, James Ensor, Fernand Khnopff, John Singer Sargent, and Aubrey Beardsley. The volume explores the interplay between the creative arts, including music, literature, and writing, at a time of major societal and aesthetic change.
