A New History of German Literature (Harvard University ... (ISBN 0674015037)

An Invaluable Collection, but not a History:
This is the second of the Harvard University Press' avowedly "new" versions of literary history, having been preceded by a "New History of French Literature." It stands in marked contrast to the traditional banal historical surveys, which often read like annotated bibliographies rearranged in chronological order, which give the reader no flavor for actual literature. It is also different from an ideosyncratic synthetic history which presents the viewpoint of one critic, glossing over certain periods and authors in order to dwell on others, merely because the author finds them more interesting or in better conformity with his thesis. Instead, this book is a compilation of essays written by over 150 specialists in different periods and aspects of German literature, each essay concentrating upon a particular work, or a particular moment in German literary history. In some respects, it works amazingly well, seeing 1200 years of Germanic literature through a series of epiphanies. The quality of the essays is extremely high, and there are enough of them that the reader does get a notion of the richness and breadth of literary creation in the German language. Best of all, the essays are such that they tend to create a hunger to read many of the works reviewed. The reader can browse through the book, following one of the many threads provided by the diverse assembly of critics, jumping from one essay and epoch to another, noting along the way many works of which he may never have heard, accumulating a rich mine of future reading. But the History's chief success is also its chief failing: such a book can never be catholic enough to serve as a reference with which to place in its historical or literary context any book which one has read, or of which one has heard. Some significant minor authors are omitted altogether, as well as a few major ones, and especially as we approach more recent times the selection has to become ever more arbitrary and limited. The greatest names in German literature are inevitably slighted due to the format, as they are given only slightly greater treatment than the lesser figures which each also command at least one essay. Goethe's Faust, most notably, does not really loom as the immensely important monument which it is, nor does it receive the kind of elaborate explication it deserves. To those tired of grazing solely on the highest treetops who might be tempted to say 'Good riddance,' one must point out that this is supposed to be a general history, and not an eclectic selection of good books the uninitiated might not otherwise have read. Another defect is that by focusing exclusively on individual works, and on the moments in history which have witnessed their birth, there are no general essays which cover the broad and pervasive literary movements such as Romanticism or Expressionism, nor are there any extended discussions of such recurrent literary genres and themes as the Bildungsroman, or the fantastic novel. In short, this is a superb anthology of essays, which deserves to be put on the shelf next to a more traditional history. The inclusion of some thematic essays, and an extended narrative to bridge the gaps and tie the essays together would partially remedy this defect at the expense of making a fat book even fatter, but I am afraid that without turning it into an encyclopedic reference of at least two volumes, a book of this structure cannot fully realize its ambition to become a "new history" which transcends the traditional model. Nonetheless, for its sheer readability, and especially given the ignorance which even most educated English-speaking readers now have of literature in German, it is a worthy acquisition for any lover of literature.