Der Reformator und Aufklärer Martin Opitz (1597-1639): Ein Humanist im Zeitalter der Krisis by Klaus Garber

Abstract

 Reviews starting point for readers who want to expand their understanding of Juan Rulfo, his work, and his milieu. S U A M S Der Reformator und Aulärer Martin Opitz (–): Ein Humanist im Zeitalter der Krisis. By K G. Berlin and Boston: de Gruyter. .  pp.£.. ISBN ––––. is seminal, engaging, and well-written volume is the culmination of Klaus Garber’s research on Martin Opitz, who is generally regarded as the father of German poetry, a figure situated between humanism and the Enlightenment. It is not Garber’s goal to provide a biography full of facts limited solely to Opitz’s life or a comprehensive interpretation of each of Opitz’s writings. Garber writes his book in the tradition of Richard Alewyn and Konrad Burdach, who emphasize the importance of demonstrating the paths literary communication followed, the ‘geistige Culturstrassen’ (p. ), and additionally the pursuit of ‘Raumkunde’, meaning an exploration of places of importance in Opitz’s life, for instance Breslau or Leiden. Across twenty chapters Garber offers an intellectual and geographical biography of Opitz’s life and literature. Each chapter focuses on a station of Opitz’s life and discusses one text from his œuvre, situating it in the literary, intellectual-historical, and political context of his time. In addition, Garber details Opitz’s diplomatic missions and his political involvement, convincingly showing Opitz as a proponent of the values of the Enlightenment. Garber’s focus on the religious aspects of Opitz’s life and work is stronger than on the political aspects. is sometimes comes at the cost of less discussion of Opitz’s literature than one would like; however, the detailed introduction of Opitz’s environment is a welcome addition, and Garber’s work is particularly valuable when he introduces a wide range of less familiar figures and their function in Opitz’s life, for instance his school teachers. He also strikes a good balance between these more marginal figures and the better-known Colerus, Zincgref, Brothers Dupuy, Lingelsheim, or Karl Hannibal zu Dohna, integrating the more obscure influences well into what is known about Opitz’s intellectual life, such as his membership of the Fruchtbringende Gesellscha. Of specific excellence is the Hugo Grotius chapter, where the complex intertwinement of literature, politics, and religion is demonstrated through an abundance of sources. Garber discusses Opitz’s literary development not just on a biographical level, but also in the context of the Silesian school, expanding this to a European context, and drawing convincing parallels with Petrarch and Ronsard, where the renewal of literature on the basis of an engagement with sources from antiquity led to the prominence of Latin poetry and the increasing establishment of poetry written in national languages. Furthermore, Opitz not only advocated and set rules for the writing of poetry in German, but also strove for political and religious reconciliation and tolerance. With respect to the editorial situation of Opitz’s œuvre, Garber identifies desiderata and also provides in the last chapter a generous, wide-ranging, and useful MLR, .,   overview detailing the archival situation and the general literature about Opitz, as well as offering a history of the various editions of Opitz’s work, ending with the most reliable and recent edition, the Kritische Ausgabe, begun by George SchulzBehrend in the late s; this edition publishes Opitz’s work in chronological order, based on Opitz’s first editions and ending in . Jörg Robert finishes the Schulz-Behrend edition by remaining loyal to his predessor’s editorial principles. In addition to the printed volumes there will be a digital edition, so that Opitz’s German and Latin texts and letters will finally be available in a reliable edition. B A S Alexander von Humboldt Handbuch: Leben — Werk — Wirkung. Ed. by O E. Stuttgart: Metzler. .  pp. €.. ISBN ––––. e image of Alexander von Humboldt we have inherited from the Age of Irony is marked by Daniel Kehlmann’s novel Die Vermessung der Welt (). In order to fashion himself as a witty meta-reflexive voice, the narrator invents a Humboldt character that has little in common with the historical model who was born two hundred and fiy years ago. He thus turns his character...