Ava’s New Testament Narratives: ‘When the Old Law Passed Away’. Excerpts from: Rudolfvon Ems, ‘Weltchronik’; The ‘ Christherr-Chromk’; Jans Enikel, ‘Weltchronik’ intro. by James A. Rushing, Jr, and: History as Literature: German World Chronicles of the Thirteenth Century in Verse intro. by R. Graeme Dunphy (review)

Abstract

1084 Reviews and #PA,with K related to A. K, discovered only in 1879, was unknown to Martin in 1866. Moreover, he had not seen R but had relied on a copy made by Wilhelm Grimm in 1831, after which the original disappeared from view; fortunately it came to light again in 1889 and was acquired by the State Library in Berlin, where it still survives. The new edition, therefore, rests on a much more secure foundation than Martin's. Furthermore, Martin had recorded variants in W and P systematically only as far as line 3000 in the poem, so the picture he gave ofthe textual transmission was anything but complete. As Lienert and Beck explain in their introduction, though the texts offered by the manuscripts differsomewhat in content and extent, the divergences are not so great that a synoptic edition of the manuscripts would be justified. For that part of the poem not found in #RW, as far as line 2297, the edition has to be based on A (which is rather fuller than P), but the greater part of the edited text follows R, the oldest and generally most reliable manuscript. In the new edition the poem runs to 10,129 lines compared with 10,152 in Martin: hence in future care will have to be exercised when reading or citing older secondary literature. The new text has not been normalized a la Lachmann. This means that most of the text (from line 2298 on) follows the thirteenth-century spellings of R, while the firstpart follows the sixteenthcentury Ambraser Heldenbuch (A). However, a number of concessions to modern practice have been made: forinstance, names have been given capital initial letters,the use of u/vand i/jhas been regularized, and modern punctuation has been introduced. The primary purpose of the edition is to make available a reliable text. No literary analysis is offered, but relevant secondary literature is listed in the bibliography. The title of the series promises 'studies' as well as texts, so we may look forward keenly to the appearance ofthe next volumes. Institute of Germanic Studies, London John L. Flood Ava's New Testament Narratives: 'When the Old Law Passed Away'. Excerpts from: Rudolf von Ems,'Weltchronik'; The 'Christherre-Chronik'; Jans Enikel, 'Weltchronik '. Introduction, translation, and notes by James A. Rushing, Jr. (Medieval German Texts in Bilingual Editions, 2) Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University, Medieval Institute Publications. 2003. 235 pp. $12. ISBN 158044 -037-8. History as Literature: German World Chronicles of the Thirteenth Century in Verse. Introduction, translation, and notes by R. Graeme Dunphy. (Medieval German Texts in Bilingual Editions, 3) Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University, Medieval Institute Publications. 2003. 186 pp. $11. ISBN 1-58044-042-8. These two volumes, forming part of a series of teaching aids, present bilingual selections from relatively little-known Middle High German authors. This series is aimed at students who are new to these particular areas and provides introductions which are clear and user-friendly (although very general), some helpful bibliography, and a (minimalist ) set of explanatory notes. The translations themselves are lively and idiomatic. The Ava volume contains the lives of John the Baptist and of Christ, the Antichrist, and Das Jiingste Gericht. It might be of particular interest to anybody seeking to introduce students to a broad range of medieval women's writing and/or eschatology . The chronicles volume is useful to the extent that itjuxtaposes entertaining and accessible excerpts from some very lengthy works which might easily be perceived by undergraduates as daunting or unappealing: forexample, the extract from Rudolf von Ems deals with the monstrous people thought to populate the remote corners of the earth, while the Enikel extract focuses on colourful stories of corrupt popes (including Pope Joan). The volume therefore gives a certain boost to the genre of MLR, 99.4, 2004 1085 the world chronicle, as well as providing a very general introduction to historical, geographical, and historical commonplaces ofthe period. Oriel College, Oxford Annette Volfing Von der Chronik zum Weltbuch: Sinn und Anspruch sudwestdeutscherHauschroniken am Ausgang des Mittelalters. By Gerhard Wolf. (Quellen und Forschungen zur Literatur-und Kulturgeschichte, NF 18) Berlin and New York: de Gruyter. 2002. xiii + 5i9pp...