Der digitale Grimm: Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm. Elektronische Ausgabe der Erstbearbeitung by Hans-Werner Bartz, Thomas Burch, Ruth Christmann, Kurt Gärtner, Vera Hildebrandt, Thomas Schares, Klaudia Wegge

Abstract

MLR, I01.4, 2006 II57 original analysis. Hart's comments are intelligent and perceptive, and he provides solid information on each film. As awhole, the volume essentially constitutes the base for an excellent year-long introductory course on Latin American film. The only negative note Iwould strike is the inclusion of Marcel Camus's I959 Orfeu negro. Camus was a French director who made this (admittedly) lovely film in Rio. However, I know of no study or reference book on Brazilian film that recog nizes Orfeu negro as a Brazilian work, and many commentators have lamented the 'poeticization of misery for export' on which it is grounded (see, therefore, Carlos Diegues's I999 remake as, significantly, just Orfeu, dropping the adjective negro). What ismost important, however, is that by including Camus's film Hart has forgone the opportunity to include any film from Brazil's internationally acclaimed Cinema Novo of the same period. Otherwise, this is amasterful contribution to the growing bibliography of mono graphs and reference works on Latin American film. ARIZONASTATEUNIVERSITY DAVIDWILLIAM FOSTER Der digitale Grimm: Deutsches Wdrterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm. Elektronische Ausgabe der Erstbearbeitung. Ed. by HANS-WERNER BARTZ,THOMAS BURCH,RUTH CHRISTMANN,KURT GARTNER,VERAHILDEBRANDT,THOMAS SCHA RES, and KLAUDIAWEGGE. Frankfurt a.M.: Zweitausendeins. 2004. Cassette comprising 2 CD-ROMs; Begleitbuch (132 pp.); Benutzerhandbuch (44 pp.). ?49.90. ISBN 3-86I50-628-9. Itwould be difficult to find superlatives which could possibly do justice to this pro duct. Through it, the whole of the Deutsches Worterbuch is available for a tenth of the price of the paperback edition, and a hundredth of the price of the hardback, and it takes up no more bookshelf space than an average paperback. It is a truism that the dictionary has many weaknesses besides its strengths, but until the new edition is complete itwill remain the most comprehensive collection of information on the history of German vocabulary, and the electronic format offers much more than any print version can tomake this treasure trove easily accessible for all kinds of scholarly and casual investigation. The team from the University of Trier involved in its pro duction have taken pains to equip this version with a range of search facilities which are sophisticated but wholly user-friendly. A short review can mention only a few of the possibilities, and point out some of themost striking features. It isworth noting, first, that individual word-forms can be searched for not only in thewhole text, but also in the italicized or non-italicized por tions, or simply in verse quotations. Quotations from individual sources or authors can be retrieved, and abrief search revealed that there were 3 I65 citations from Platen in the work, io8 from Sudermann, but only one from Lilienkron. However, when the search was modified to capture possible alternative spellings of the name (Lilienkron or Liliencron) I3 II citations were recovered; this modification is very simple to ex ecute in a single operation, as one simply puts alternatives in square brackets, i.e. Lilien[ck]ron. This is an example of the careful thought which has gone into the preparation of this work. Given the length of time which the Deutsches Wdrterbuch was in the making, there are immense inconsistencies inmany aspects, not least in the orthography, but these have all been taken into account here in developing eco nomical and effective search tools. An immense further advantage is that the citations under individual lemmata can be related directly to the register of sources, so that the historical development of a particular word or itsmeaning can be seen quickly. One of the real disadvantages of the Deutsches Wdrterbuch compared, say, to the OED I158 Reviews was always that the citations were not dated, and not every user had Jacob Grimm's encyclopaedic knowledge. But the problem is now overcome in this version. The program is installed from the CD-ROMs onto the computer hard disc and is launched from a desktop icon, with no need to put the CD into the drive each time the program is to be used. The instruction manual (Benutzerhandbuch) is very clear and has full details of all the tools and features. The...