Carl Hauptmann 1858-1921: Internationales Symposion by Mirosława Czarnecka, Hans-Gert Roloff

Abstract

MLR, 103. I, 2oo8 279 responses and add a fascinating dimension to this interesting study of a mutually fruitfulliterary relationship. UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL PETER SKRINE Carl Hauptmann I858-I92I: Internationales Symposion. Ed. by MIROSLAWA CZAR NECKA and HANs-GERT ROLOFF. (Studium Litterarum: Studien und Texte zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte, 8) Berlin: Weidler. 2004. 336 pp. E40. ISBN 978-3-89693-404-8. These are theproceedings of the firstinternational Carl Hauptmann conference, held tocommemorate theeightieth anniversary ofhis death, shared fittingly between Ger many and Poland, and designed to revive scholarship onGerhart Hauptmann's almost forgottenbutmore intelligentelder brother. It supports theexcellent ongoing new edi tionofHauptmann's writings (Samtliche Werke, ed. by Eberhard Berger, Hans-Gert Roloff, and Anna Stroka, i6 vols with one supplementary vol. (Stuttgart and Bad Cannstatt: frommann-holzboog, 1997- )). Twenty contributions ofmixed quality cover a broad selection ofworks in several genres and from every phase ofHaupt mann's career, plus biographical, topographical, and thematic studies; a description of hismonument at Schreiberhau and a serviceable bibliography are included. There is a notable fixationon his firstnovelMathilde (I902) and on Hauptmann's generally regressive representation ofwoman. Barbara Becker-Cantarino, examining the theme of the 'newwoman' in several pieces, documents Hauptmann's rejection of that idea and shakes her head over his biologistic concept ofwoman as findingultimate fulfil ment inmotherhood. Ursula Bonter detects in Mathilde an eccentric path from the old to thenew woman and back again, andMiroslawa Czarnecka, inan engaging study of socio-spatial and gender representations, finallysuggests thenefarious influence of Bachofen's Mutterrecht. Following this trend, Wolfgang Neuber, in the intellectuallymost exciting contri bution, reconstructsHauptmann's earlyDarwinian-Haeckelian philosophical ideas, and argues that natural selection is the prime determinant ofMathilde's sexual be haviour. But there are counter-voices. Walter Delabar, in an otherwise perfunctory analysis, sees Einhart's encounters with women in the later artist novel Einhart der Ldchler ( 907) as decisive inhis aesthetic development. More tellingly, Anna Stroka, in a fascinating reconstruction ofHauptmann's encounters with Poland and Poles, reconstructs Hauptmann's lifelong affair-cum-friendship with the Polish empirio critical philosopherJosepha Krzyzanowska, her intellectual influenceover him, awak ening of his commitment toPolish sovereignty, and persuasion of him to the cause of women's emancipation. Work remains to be done here. As for the rest,Hans-Gert Roloff and Eberhard Berger offerdistinguished contri butions to theanalysis ofHauptmann's late styleand thegenesis of some early novellas, Andreas Keller discerns interesting political theses in the posthumously published Tantaliden, andWerner H. Veith establishes theauthenticity and aesthetic function of Silesian dialect inEphraims Breite. It isnoticeable thatcertain aspects barely feature: Hauptmann's lyrics, his journals and aphorisms, his very fine early impressionis tic stories, his third novel Ismael Friedmann, the scientific and philosophical works produced under Haeckel's and Avenarius's tutelage, his relationships with themany distinguished contemporary painters, thinkers,and writers who were his friends.But thatof course is really thisvolume's triumph, to have set out an agenda for further research into thismany-sided, often profound, and unjustly neglected modernist. DURHAM UNIVERSITY NICHOLAS SAUL ...